Rule Britannia
by Tris147
Summary: A story about Britain and her rise to power and beyond, I hold no grudges against any nation mentioned or not mentioned in this novel, this is an AU. I own no rights to any of the schools, military organisations or characters that exist in EA. Reviews appreciated. A personal review of this novel will be conducted regularly to maintain continuity and good grammar.
1. Chapter 1

**Rule Britannia**

**Chapter: 1:** The Rise of an Empire

In the 18th century Emperor Columbus Bryce the 1st, signed quite possibly the most important document in human history, the Declaration of Unification, which was the agreement between Britain and all her colonies that free trade, education, healthcare and resources would be shared equally among the citizens of the world during the founding of the Empire. Britain had signed many alliance pacts with most of the countries around the world which eventually led to thed inevitable annexation of the countries into Britain.

But before it appears that the Empire stole the countries rights and civil freedoms,it should be made clear that the Emperor agreed that all annexed countries would have all the same customs and cultures they previously had but would however have to accept British laws ,and the wealth and resources of that country would go to the betterment of all countries within the Empire. In addition, the countries existing armed forces would be integrated into the British armed forces.

Therefore, with many countries around the world seeing the benefits of being partnered to Britain, they decided to do the same. This was the founding of the colonies, which incorporated large portions of the world into a single region governed by a Regency Council which was made up by the rulers of all countries in the colony, meaning that each country had their say, but of course for order to maintained, a British ambassador would be present at each Regency Council session, to hear all the issues within that colony and tell it of Britain's views.

Of course before any of this modern-day Empire was formed there were the years before which consisted of many bloody and vicious wars that had divided Europe and Africa as European powers fought for control of the slave trade and valuable natural resources. With Britain and France engaged in a war that would last 100 years, hence the 100 years' war Britain newly formed intelligence agency learned of France's intention for Africa and the other European countries. Britain went on a full offensive war to protect those who would otherwise be defenceless.

With the war coming to a close, with France's military in shambles and losing territory to Britain every day, France signed over its remaining land and colonies to British control and submitted to all demands made. With Britain's only major rival out of the picture Britain shut down the slave trade and began to open new lands for those who had been kept as property. Those who had been freed by Britain pledged to serve and repay Britain anyway they could, this was when the Empire started to take shape. As Africa started to build vigorously with the aid of their British allies stabilized the country and became the first true colony of Britain.

Over the next two centuries Britain increased its European territory as it systematically conquered all the slaver nations and warlike states and instilled new governments that would swear fealty to Britain and would be from now on considered British territory. With Europe under British control due to far too many unwanted wars Britain decided to refrain from war unless absolutely necessary. With the Americas being colonised and the same with Australia and the pacific islands, Britain now had large areas of land that where too much for one country to govern, so like Africa the Emperor signed away much his overseas territory to colonial councils. With these new colonies in place and squaring off against their fellows, the Emperor decided that to maintain the peace amongst the peoples of the world with a Declaration of Unification. It was sent to all colonial councils for review, within two years all colonies had agreed to the bill and signed it, effectively creating the British Commonwealth Alliance or BCA.

I, Gregory Bryce, was born straight onto the international stage, from day one a lot was of expected from me. And that all began with upbringing. Being the heir to largest and most powerful Empire on the face of the Earth I was raised with the utmost care and attention and given the world's best education. Therefore, that meant private schools, so for the after my third birthday I was sent to Blackheath Prep, and then after that I were sent to Winchester College, but due to my success at both schools I graduated at sixteen, and from there i joined the Royal Air force and worked my way through the ranks as a trainee fighter pilot.

At the turn of the new Millennium my father decreed that Britain was to start a new age of peace and discovery with our overseas colonies. This new venture was in part due to India the Empires most influential and wealthy sub-colony, and their own Government had proposed that a space program would benefit the human race, so my father agreed and immediately started funding the new Commonwealth Alliance Space Program or CASP for short. Over the next decade CASP made great advances into science and technology by 2010 The Commonwealth space station was fully self sufficient and was the size of a football pitch with a permanent crew of twenty. It conducted research on everything from artificial gravity to cleaner energy generation. It was not until 2014 eight years after I had joined the Royal Air Force that my senior officer took me aside and told me that the CASP director had requested that I become the captain of the newly christened HMS Britannia on her maiden voyage to Mars. Of course I accepted without hesitation.

Nevertheless with my responsibilities to the RAF I had to finish my term of service before I could act in any of the roles, however on my birthday my parents arrived unannounced, at the air force base where I was stationed. Of course I had to greet them with the senior officers of the base. I escorted them to one of my CO's private quarters to have privacy. It turned out that they had heard of my recommendation to pilot the Britannia and had 'requested' that I be allowed at once to leave for the the CASP HQ in America and begin my training, there are perks to being royalty.

After a year I was fully trained and awaiting final clearance to be commissioned as a CASP astronaut. It took mountains of paperwork to get through before I could be cleared for active duty. Thankfully due to the importance of the mission the paperwork was 'finished' in just two weeks, now I could officially take command of the ship and await the launch date. That came around remarkably fast and before I knew it it was about four hours before I needed to suit up and get into the ship for pre-launch startup. When the crew and I were ready to leave the conference room my father walked in, everyone stood and bowed but my father smiled and said it was unnecessary on such a momentous day.. Once everyone stood straight once more my father moved along the line of technicians and operation staff shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries. When he reached the other astronauts he took special care to greet them all by name and joked with all before wishing them luck and moving on.

Amongst my crew were, two Americans, myself, one Indian and a South African. We had been hand picked for our skills . But of course there were many people in the press had suggested I was selected to lead the mission because of my status as Prince. But I was employed on merit not because of my status. I showed my father the prototype ship we had trained in, he listened attentively and when we were alone, he hugged me and said how proud he was of me and that he would be the first to greet me when we returned home in 2 years' time.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter: 2: Destiny

Once my father and I finished our conversation he retreated to the viewing station, where he could monitor all aspects of the launch, while I returned to the briefing room to suit up and prepare to move to the shuttle. I should mention that CASP as clever as they are could not for the sake of them build Britannia on Earth as it was just too heavy to take off in atmosphere, therefore she was assembled in orbit with crew and parts sent to her via the shuttle one of the first and in my opinion greatest feat of engineering of our time, well before Britannia that is. The shuttle we would travel up in was the Endeavour, built for just such a mission to supply the CSS with resources, food and of course people, and so it was today we would dock with the CSS at approximately 20:00 hours which would give us four hours to board the Britannia and do a run through of her systems before start-up.

After I had checked my crew was correctly suited up and my suit was also correctly fitted, we headed to the tower and along the route we stopped for the customary photos and pre-flight speeches. After that there was no turning back, we were all very nervous but the two American crew members had flew up before so they knew what to expect. When we were fastened into our seats and the main hatch sealed, we joked a little, but once we heard the clamps outside begin to release and the fuel lines cut, we silenced straight away, I was vaguely listening to the countdown when the South African crew member blasted rock and roll music through our local mic network, so the TV broadcasts would hear it. We all looked at each other before the ignition and burst out laughing, it was a good distraction as a second later we were forced even deeper into our seats.

The initial burn through the atmosphere was uneventful, much to my delight, and as soon as we were clear of the atmosphere and the boosters and fuel tank had decoupled, we set about activating the shuttle's boosters and set a course for the CSS. I took five hours to match our orbits and slow down sufficiently before we were cleared for docking, I remembered being told that on the earlier mission to the CSS they had successfully installed the first prototype Artificial gravity generator to the station and upon docking we would feel the effects of gravity.

For the next few moments we waited for the docking clamps to secure before we unlatched ourselves from the seats and removed our suits, we would have new ones waiting for us on the Britannia. I had to admit I was giddy with excitement upon setting foot onto the station and it was odd stepping out of zero G into an Earth standard gravity field, most of us made the transition easily but the Indian crewman stumbled and fell unceremoniously onto his face, while we all doubled over in hysterics he simply lifted his hand to give us the finger and when standing he couldn't hide the embarrassed grin on his face as he shrugged of his stumble.

When we were greeted by the current CSS crew they said that CASP command had extended the launch window of the Britannia by three hours due to unforeseen delays while fuelling the ship, I didn't worry as it wasn't my ass on the line besides I was pleased to have more time to explore the CSS, however first port of call was the observatory. Upon entering my crew and I froze as we got our first real look at the Britannia, one of the Americans whistled while the rest of us gawked, I marvelled at the sheer size of the ship, it was enormous, easily the size of two London double-decker buses end to end length ways and as tall as one standing on it's rear. With some serious persuasion we moved on to the science bays, were we would be given our flight injections to counter the effects of zero G bone and muscle degradation, and several more to keep organ functionality normal.

After having what felt like burning oil pumped into my veins, we were told to report to the mess for our last proper meal before we were stuck eating pre hydrated cubes of flavoured muck and every astronaut's favourite, nutrient paste. As we were the first humans to be going on the longest manned space flight in human history we were allowed anything our hearts desired, while the other set about ordering everything under the sun, I went for a typical Yorkshire roast, best damn food in my opinion, but I'll be honest I did have side orders of everything else, keeping up my strength I said, while the others gorged on their own personal feasts, of course they were very small portions as we weren't supposed to alter our physical mass before entering the ship so after we'd eaten we had to swallow a fast acting pill that super jumped our stomach's, absorbing valuable nutrients and vitamins 5x faster than normal so that there would be no trace of food in our body's before we had to launch.

As I mentioned before our departure was delayed so we spent our free time chatting, exploring the station and looking out at Earth and the Britannia, as the deadline drew nearer we headed for the ship, now fully fuelled and ready for action. Once aboard gravity left us once again and we were glad we had no food in our systems as we lurched around the interior before getting our bearings, once achieved we suited up again, took our positions and waited.

When we were all suited up and buckled in, I opened communications with CASP HQ and proceeded to recite the status of the ship and transmit the computer readings, for final analysis, before being given the green light to depart. As the CSS retracted docking arm, one of the Canadarm industries greatest creations, and the ship drifting freely away from the station, I couldn't help but take one last look at Earth while the mission control crew gave me the go ahead to activate the engines.

With a final breath I hit the ignition and throttled up the main thrusters, of course Commonwealth space doctrine dictates that speeds should not exceed five meters per second while in the vicinity of a satellite or station, so the launch was very anticlimactic, however once the ship reached minimum safe distance I floored it. All of the crew myself included were once again squished into our seats, as five nuclear powered ion thrusters pushed the Britannia forward through space at one hundred thousand Kilometres per second the Britannia's maximum speed, which should make our journey to Mars approximately three and a half weeks.

Thankfully once the ships engines cut out to allow the ship to drift, the pressure on our bodies was released and we were able to unlatch ourselves to move about the cabin. I however, remained seated to ensure our trajectory was accurate and that there were no anomalies or faults to report back to Earth. Once I was satisfied I too ventured off to explore the ship, unlike the shuttle the Britannia had a flatter at the nose but broadened out towards the back, like a wedge however it was no wider. This did however make the ship very long, that wasn't as problem as it was for ease of access and there was the main tunnel connecting all section of the ship which was wide enough for two people to pass by each other.

When I ventured down the tunnel I could see that the CASP engineers had built the Britannia for speed and comfort, the living quarters were almost on par with civilian comfort, but without the space, although it did leave plenty of room for an exercise machine in each bedroom, saving the long waits for the crew to keep fit and to maintain bodily functions. Of course the drugs helped but exercise was still the answer for space degradation. I was impressed that they had been able to fit all this into a ship we would only be spending a total of a seven weeks, which normally would have meant that CASP would spend longer on fitting more science equipment and larger storage bays on the ship.

But I guess all this luxury was to make our flight as relaxing as possible and soon we would be spending a year or so on the surface of another planet where everything we knew was far away and the new world would be as alien to use as we were to it. After checking my quarters fully I ventured out to find the rest of the crew, but I got distracted by a small viewing port and it dawned me that we were the trailblazers of human exploration.

When I found the crew in the communal area I made quite an entrance as I flipped into the wall to slow myself, they all laughed as they knew I hadn't done it on purpose as I had forgotten that the was no gravity. But once I regained control I helped out with activating the only other gravity generation in existence, of course it wasn't the same as the CSS's as it was just a spinning wheel in the centre of the ship, hence this was the science bay, as would need to be sure that all of our highly expensive tool and future valuable Rock samples would be safe from crashing about the ship in Zero G.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter: 3: The Wait

With the voyage well under way and the crew settled in nicely, we were extremely excited to be finally gong where no human had gone before, Mars. Mars had always held a place of enormous pride throughout human history, either for being a god or a supposed life-sustaining planet, and we would be the first people to see it and touch the planet, and because of this momentous undertaking CASP had brought the best to be a part of it.

Now down to the crew themselves, first there was me, the best pilot in the Commonwealth who CASP had requested as they knew that I could adapt to fly the ship. Second there was Dominick Smith, South African Geologist, renowned for his skills at identifying the mineral and chemical compounds in rock samples all over the Earth and the Moon so the obvious choice for Mars. Thirdly there was Aahlaad Dutta the Commonwealths best Geophysicist. And finally the two Americans, first there was Jacob Williams, our navigator for the Martian surface and second was Julianne Miller, the second in command she and I had been rivals for years when we were in our respective air forces, every time we had a joint flight operation or war game she would always go for me and I for her, it had been a very close for who got the commander position, but in the end it was decided that I should pilot the ship during the flight and she would land the ship and lift it off.

When the Britannia was ten hours out from entering Mars gravity field the crew was assembled in the cockpit already suited up and ready to land. For the next five hours Julia and myself manoeuvred the ship into its pre-scheduled descent path and began to burn the engines retrograde to slow our orbital speed so we could gently slide through the thin Martian atmosphere before deploying our first set of parachutes. When the ship began to shudder and lurch we knew we were entering the atmosphere, we felt a lot more vulnerable now that we had decoupled our interplanetary stage and were now in the forward section of the ship which consisted of the bridge and crew quarters.

When the shuddering and wind noise outside quieted a little and the decent computer flashed green Julia deployed the parachutes and awaited to lower the landing gear, when the ship jumped violently upwards we all let out our breath, I shouted to the rest that it I was glad the parachutes worked, most managed a small grunt of humour but some just closed their eyes and gripped theirs eats tighter, I made a mental note to see them after we landed to check they were ok and that they could have a small break before we had to get to work.

I had to admit I was relieved when the descent computer beeped wildly, indicating that we had touched down, I was surprised I didn't feel anything, but Julia said while turning the computer off that the landing gear were designed to absorbed the impact to reduce crew discomfort, we all said we'd kiss the manufacturer when we returned, as we were all quite giddy from both elation and fried nerves from the descent.

Now that we had safely landed, I had to make sure that none of the systems were damaged and that the communications relay was activated to tell CASP HQ that we had landed safely and we were preparing to exit the ship. After another hour of systems checks, I headed to the airlock with Julia, while the others retrieved the tools from the secondary storage compartment, in the communal area. When we were all assembled by the airlock I called for radio check and triple checked that all suits and helmets were secured properly and sealed. After I was a hundred percent satisfied, I turned to the door and began to open it once opened, we cramped into the small compartment, sealed the ship side door and depressurised, after an agonisingly wait, I opened the last door and swung it wide to allow all the crew a view of the Red Planet.

"Wow, would you look at that" Dominick mumbled, "what you never seen Mars before?" Aahlaad said sarcastically. It took us all several moments to snap out of our stupor, "So Captain, when you're ready! Julia asked with an amused tone, I half turned to look at her with an eyebrow raised, her face straightened immediately, and looked straight ahead, "Sorry sir" she sputtered, "Its fine just give me a second to enjoy the view". After I had waited long enough I ventured out of the airlock and onto the ladder. This was the part I was dreading, the speech. However, it was duty so I took a deep breath and began,

"My fellow Commonwealth citizens, on this day August 5th 2015, I Prince Gregory Bryce of the British Empire and the Commonwealth Alliance and the crew of the HMS Britannia take our first steps on the surface of Mars. Let this day bring our species into a new dawn of peaceful cooperation and exploration for generations to come."

With that out-of-the-way I gingerly took my first step off the ladder and onto Mars, it was serial feeling, the culmination of a decade's worth of research and development had led to this moment. With the first foot trodden I left the human construct for the alien environment. With Mars gravity at 3.711m/s squared, 6.069m/s squared less than Earth, I feel incredibly light and free even with the bulky spacesuit I was able to move freely, after several small hops away from the ship I turned to place the camera I held to take pictures of the ship and the crew. When the others were grounded and I had re-joined them we unwrapped the Commonwealths flag, which was a picture of the Earth with the Union Jack in the left corner, and held it between us as I pressed the capture button.

That image along with the speech would be sent via the radar dish straight to the Commonwealth Broadcasting Centre to be shown worldwide for all to see, that would be the only still image of us during our one year and five month exploration of the Northern half of Mars first stop Olympus Mons. However, before that we had to unload Buggy and the raise the planet wide communication relay so that we could broadcast our science data back to the ship then to Earth. In addition we had to plant the flag, "Julia stop messing with the flag and get the pole fitted" I called, she looked over and grinned, "Hey we've already pictured the flag why do we have to stick it the ground?" "It's expected, Julia" Jacob drawled.

After the flag had been planted and the buggy was ready to go, we load in and set off, it was like we need the GPS as it wasn't hard to miss our destination, although it was a day's drive but that's the advantage of having enclosed buggy, we could take off our suits and it had proper sleeping bunks, so we could take shifts of driving so we would arrive fresh and ready to work. After the day's drive and everyone wearing to get to work we all ventured outside to get a proper look at the mountain, after all of us had sore necks from leaning back to see the top, we got to work. First we had to catalogue the soil and rock composition then scan for recognisable materials and possible artificial constructs.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter: 4: Earth Shattering

After we started up the scanners we discovered that the CASP engineers had increased the range of our scanners so that we could now see objects and mineral composites over a mile away including through soil. When trained the scanners on the mountain it beeped and showed possible artificial construct. "Captain you should look at this" Aahlaad called, as I ventured closer he motioned to look at his scanner, when I took it from him, I glanced at the screen, then did a double take and looked at him, "Are you kidding me Aahlaad?" "No seriously this is legit!"

I cleared the scanner of the last recorded data and then proceeded to scan Aahlaad's sector once more, when I scanned over the mountain, and the scanner beeped again. As the scanner scrolled through the chemical makeup and elemental composition, it started to make a 3D image of the structure, there was no denying it, it was artificial and nature doesn't build in perfect right angles.

When all the crew had checked and double checked the scanner, we all agreed that this was an alien construction and need to be reported. As captain I had the clearance to use the real-time communication device in the buggy, but that would use up nearly all the available stored energy so we would be stranded until the cells recharged. After I was in the buggy and the communication array booted up and linked to the CSS, I waited for the CASP senior staff to receive the call.

After a few seconds, the face of my father appeared, "Oh hello, I wasn't expecting you?" I said taken aback "Well I wanted to be the first person to answer this call after all it is going to be big" he smiled but after my hesitation my father caught on and went serious, "what is it son? What have you found?" "Well it's a little difficult to explain, but we found evidence of alien life." At this it was my father's turn to hesitate, as did all the visible CASP personnel behind him, my voice had been broadcast through mission control and everyone froze when I said alien life.

An uproar of hysteria and shouting developed in mission control, my father slowly calmed them all down by shouting the loudest for silence. Once order had been restored, my father turned back to the screen and looked at me with a very serious face, "Son what do you mean you have found evidence of alien life?" at this I uploaded the scanner data so everyone on my fathers end could see it, "While scanning Olympus Mons for mineral deposits my colleague Aahlaad's scanner indicated possible artificial construction, at this he called me over, once I checked his scanner I reset the scanner and scanned again when the scanner beeped again I looked once more and a 3D image of the structure was displayed and it was confirmed that it was artificial as it was built with perfect right angles.

After five days of bickering and finally coming to an agreement, it was decided that our mission was postponed indefinitely and we were to investigate the alien structure and report back immediately if we make contact with the aliens. After we hastily bundled the tools and samples had managed to collect into the buggy and quickly followed them. After five days of waiting around you would think we'd be ready to go, but with the discovery of alien life we were to dazed to even move the tools from where they were left, now that we had been given direction we moved faster than ever, and within half an hour we were moving around the mountain the entrance of the structure. We all sat in silence the whole way, I guessed we were all still running over the situation in our minds, we'd been on Mrs less than a week and we had discovered alien life.

Three hours driving went by before we reached the point where the entrance should have been, but what we saw was more mountainside, but the scanners assured us that the structure was no more than five meters inside. Thankfully, we had the very best excavation equipment humans produced, we set about digging our way inside the mountain at first it was easy but after a few meters, with the tiredness and excitement progress began to slow.

It was when we were about to stop for a quick break, when Jacob and Dominick's' tools hit metal, it was loud enough so we all heard the clang and stopped to look at the alien the structure now reached we began again. Soon we had exposed the entire door and then excavated back out towards the buggy and started to set up support columns so that we would have a large area in front of the structure to allow us to set up camp outside the structure while we worked on open it.

After the sun had started to set, we had removed a large proportion of the soil covering the entrance, with a new open ended cave we set up our new base of operations. Once we had secured our self contained sleeping tents and extended the sides of the buggy to allow room for a small dinner table and science laboratory, I ventured over to the structure and I just couldn't get over the fact that we had found an alien construction. Obviously we had no idea how to open it, but CASP assured us that we would be able to crack it after we had enough time to figure it out.

However, with the excitement and prolonged digging I ordered that the crew to take the evening off, thankfully we had just installed the airtight seal around the entrance, it basically was just a poly plastic film that expands outward to fit the available space, once achieved it pumps the necessary and essential gases into the enclosed space to make it breathable. This allowed us to remove our suits and roam the cave danger free. while the others went about cleaning their suits and getting ready for some much needed sleep, I couldn't resist the urge to touch the Martian soil with my fingers, despite what we had discovered I didn't let it get in front of the fact that I was on a different planet.

It took us the rest of the month before we even started to see any results, the result being that we finally managed to identify and catalogue the materials used in the structure, it was surprising how similar the materials were, however they had been extensively modified to incorporate materials that we had never seen before, but during the month, we had managed to identify an electric current that we traced to what could only be described as a junction box. The only problem was that we had no way to get to the wires or whatever was carrying the current. Eventually Julia suggested that we try using a particle emission pulse try to disrupt the flow of energy or an EMP and see if the door reacts.

So we dug out our small but powerful particle beam and set it up at the convergence point. Once we had retreated back slightly Jacob activate the beam and it immediately started sending out every form of energy in the electromagnetic spectrum one after another. After firing every electromagnetic ray at the convergence point with no change, our hope started to dwindle, it was only when Dominick got frustrated with the door and kicked it that we saw a slight jolt in the energy flow, only to have it stabilize moments later.

I let out a sigh as Dominick continued to kick the door, "Dominick cut it out!" I shouted, with one final kick he stopped and slumped against the door and sank to the floor. It was at that point that the energy surge increased to a point where it started to emit its own electromagnetic pulse that sent our own pulse levels rising dangerously. When the beams pulse reached overload capacity, the electric field from the structure fluctuated and died.

When the power failed the door moved, parting straight down the middle and continuing to spread apart. With the sudden shift in the door right behind where Dominick was leaning he had no time to react he slipped through the gap and kept going, I rushed over to where he'd vanished and couldn't see anything other than a steep gradient leading straight down. "Dom! Are you ok!" I shouted while looking at the others "get me my suit and a flashlight" while they rushed about, Jacob handed me a light I rushed into the tunnel and flicked the light on.

I hadn't gone very far before I spotted Dominick lying on his back rasping for breath, at that moment I felt light-headed and realised that the aliens probably breathed a different air. So reacting just on instinct I stopped breathing and grabbed Dominick under his shoulders and started dragging him back to the entrance, but at this point I was feeling very dizzy and my vision started to blur after a few more meters I lost my grip and collapsed myself, before blacking out I heard Julia's voice shouting my name before I lost consciousness.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter: 5: First Contact

When I woke I was back outside the structure in the buggy, I slowly sat up and stood gingerly, I still felt a little dizzy but much better than before. I went outside to the entrance again and found Julia and Jacob coming out of the tunnel in the suits, "What happened to me and Dom?" I asked when they noticed me, "You and Dom suffered mild asphyxiation before we pulled you back outside" Jacob said, "so why am not in quarantine?" he paused for a second then "well you were initially and we ran all the necessary tests and found that there was no risk of contamination."

This took me a moment to process "wait I was in an alien environment with no suit and I'm not a threat to your safety? Then why are you wearing your suits?" "Well after your were retrieved and scanned your were clean, and there is no atmosphere in the structure, hence the suits." With this information I began to form new conclusions about why there was no atmosphere, first thought was that the aliens didn't need one or possibly the life support was offline, but I wouldn't know standing out here.

When I started putting my suit on Julia tried to quote medical doctrine at me but when I pulled rank on her and said I wasn't going to sit on my arse while they explored an alien base. After she saw my expression at her 'requests' she shut up pretty quick. But before I went back in I checked on Dominick, he had been in the base longer than I and was still out but Aahlaad assured me he would be fine and we follow us in when Dom awoke.

Once I was at the mouth of the tunnel and Jacob and Julia beside me, we walked back down into the now illuminated tunnel, "after you two had fainted and tucked up safe and sound me and Julia came in to set up the lights, as far the tunnels end." "Jacob I appreciate your concern and when we return to Earth I'll nominate you for my place as Emperor, how's that sound?" "Well as long as you don't mind your highness?" I punched his arm and laughed at the banter, Jacob and I got on really well, so it was easy to bounce off insults at each other.

Upon reaching the end of the tunnel we exited into a large room that strongly resembled an airlock or decontamination chamber, however the doors were open so we continued on, filming everything as we went. The next room was even more recognisable, it reminded me a lot of the British Commercial spaceport arrivals terminal, only without the shops dotted around the edges, as we continued further through the Station, as we now called it, was deemed to be a research station as we had discovered several sealed rooms with tubes and what looked like rock samples inside. However, we were convinced this was just one side of the Station as we had found what looked like a tram-line that went much further into the mountain and much deeper.

Three more months of exploration and research we had confirmed that the Station was indeed a research station as we had managed to splice our portable power module into the junction box, now that the power was restored to the entrance part of the station we could start to find out what if any data was in the Stations virtual database, however all we had managed to do was power was the door controls, this had it advantages as now we could open the sealed science vaults, for that we dawned the suits once more as who knows what the aliens had experimented with and since the arrivals area was now oxygenated we hadn't need the suits.

All the crew assembled outside the first sealed door and spliced the module in the doors power junction, after a little re-adjusting the wires the door slid apart, first in was Dom who instantly went over to the samples on the tables and started scanning them while the rest of us explored further, when all the labs had been search we didn't find any new information every lab had the same samples in various stages of dismantlement, it was obvious the alien had experimented with ways of taking this material apart. After we had explored every inch of 'Arrivals' we decided to put more power into the aliens' power grid, so we planned to hook up the buggy's power core to the tram-line to see if the tram would come back to our side. However, I needed to contact command.

"Hello father" I said when he open the transmission "I'm sure you have a lot to tell us" After a very long talk and all of our data sent over I had to get back to the Station for our ride over to the second part of the Station. When I got into the tram terminal, the other were ready to go, so when we jumped on and used our new control mechanism, consisting of one of our touchpads that controlled the power flow to the tram-line. With the tram moving down the tracks the familiar feeling of excitement and wonder returned.

After a quick journey down the line we pulled up at a yet another decontamination chamber, only this one was wasn't empty, none of us uttered a noise as we started in shock and horror as what we were seeing dawned on us. In front of us was the decayed corpse of an alien, it was remarkably well intact as it was sealed into sealed clean environment. The longer we started the more I realised that we needed to get in there, "Aahlaad open the door" I managed to choke out he turned open moved to face me, "Are you mad sir?" "We need to get in their to study that body" when he moved to the control panel he crouched down and pulled the casing off and attached the power modules jump leads to the doors wires, only the door remained sealed "Sir it's not responding", "try another one fry the circuits", after he'd attached another module the control panel fizzed and smoked and the door slide open a little.

Wanting to get in now I grabbed the door and pulled using all my strength to pull it open far enough to allow me in my suit to fit through, now inside I stood over the corpse taking in the detail of its face and its body, it was humanoid in physical appearance, two legs and arms, the only difference was that it had four eyes, a flat nose and no visible ears and its head was slightly elongated at the back with ridges along its length, it also had no body hair and that would have remained if it had any as it was in a sterile environment for god knows how long. When Julia joined me in the room she looked from the body to me then crouched and inserted the carbon dater into its neck and waited, after a little wait, Julia removed the dater and looked at it screen. For the first time since knowing Julia she gasped, I looked at her in surprise, she looked at me with utter shock on her face, "This body its Fifty thousand years old!"

After the body had been moved from the decontamination chamber and placed in a sterile bag to preserve it, we then high tailed it back to the surface and contacted command. "Hello is anyone receiving, we have found an alien corpse and brought it back for study, however, evidence shows that the body is fifty thousand years old, possible danger residing inside the second part of the station, please advise."

I didn't wait for a confirmation before speaking I knew that the message would get through so I just waited for a response, "slow down their son, what you mean the alien has been dead for fifty thousand years, does that mean the Station was abandoned, by their species and they were left to die?" My father's voice was oddly calm but no less serious, "Dad, I don't know what to tell you, but were all pretty freaked out by this, and if I'm honest I not sure we want to back down there"

My voice on the other hand was shaky and extremely serious. "Now son, calm down, you're a RAF pilot you've trained for high stress missions." I slowed my breathing a little and concentrated, "Okay, you're right but I still haven't trained for finding and alien base possibly full of dead aliens!" I almost shouted, this was now far beyond my pay grade.

Over the next hour my father told me he was talking with CASP to arrange a second mission to Mars within the week to assist us with the exploration and securing of the second side of the Station, and should we encounter an alien threat we would be authorised to use deadly force, so the second mission would be bring a limited supply of weapons, that only trained and authorised personnel would have access to.

After only a month and a half our orbital scanner showed we had a new contact, it was the HMS Agincourt, and it was secret to the world and it was actually older than the Britannia, as it was constructed by the military and was the first and only armed space vessel humans had built. The Agincourt was unique in that it could land and take off without splitting in two, it also carried a full regiment of Royal Marines, and they were here to secure and neutralise any threat inside section B of the Station.

The marines were the best soldiers from each country on the Earth and none-more so than the Canadian Sniper, Liam Taylor or as his preferred to be called 'Piper' to which nobody knew why. When they had landed and assembled at our makeshift base at the entrance to the Station, we showed them to the tram-line and set the tram moving, Liam came over to us and motioned for me to take his assault rifle, "You've been approved for use of a firearm, but I don't need the assault, the sniper is my weapon", I looked at the rifle he offered me then back to Liam and pushed it back towards him tilted his head in confusion "What are you doing sir?" "I'm not here for my fighting skills, I'm here for exploration, and peaceful discovery"

At that he paused then laughed and walked away, leaving the rifle with me. My crew looked after Liam then back to me "What's he expecting you do be doing? Didn't your father send the marines for them to do any shooting?" "Yeah he did, still doesn't explain why he thinks I need a rifle". When we reached the first airlock door, the marines piled into the small space and prepared for a breaching manoeuvre, at this Dominick stepped forward and placed himself between the door and the marines, despite much shouting and cursing. "Hey quieten down guys, let me just open this without blowing this facility to pieces!"

While he set about cannibalising the doors controls, the marines were getting restless, they weren't use to the slow methodical pace of scientists, but as soon as Dominick had powered up the door and it slide open the marines charged into the dark room while their light sensitive shoulder touches lit illuminating a scene most would have thrown up from which Jacob and Dominick did. Smeared all over the floor and walls, was dried blood stains and piles of bones scattered all over the place, while Jacob and Dominick recovered from their convulsions with the help from Julia and Aahlaad, I stepped further into the room while the marines signalled that it was all clear.

I moved towards the closest blood smear and realised that there were finger trails dragged through it, "What's happened in here!" one of the marines called "I couldn't tell you mate, we've just got here" I responded, several minutes later the marines had split into small teams and were searching through each room setting up lights and moving on. After Five hours they had mapped and searched that entire side of the Station, throughout the facility blood stains and bones could be found throughout. The members of my crew and I moved about the station trying to find the cause of all this death but so far no luck, although we were overloaded by dormant computers and biological and metallic samples, we had found at the centre of this side of the Station was what we presumed, was the computer network hub station. Although it would take a lot of research and decoding before it was of any us, we were confident that the cause of the aliens deaths and untold technological data would be revealed.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter: 6: Home

After we had secured and mapped section B my crew and I set about trying to reactivate the computer core, but most of our computers were just too weak to breach the mainframe and with the hub being on low power we had only managed to get a small part of the software to boot up. Just after I had pulled myself out of the small crevice that housed the Cores hardware, Liam strolled over to me, "Sorry to interrupt sir, but you have a priority one message awaiting you aboard the Agincourt." As I stood I could hear Aahlaad scrambling to exit the crevice "Why are they calling the Agincourt if they want to speak to you" He said as he popped his head out of the hole. "Beats me" I shrugged at him as I moved to follow Liam.

Once we reached topside we take a short ride over to the Agincourt, after we had entered the hangar bay, Liam pointed towards a display panel on the far wall, "I wouldn't hang around too long sir, he's waited long enough as it is." Liam said as if it was my fault that they called a surface based radio. When I enter my security code into the ships mainframe, my father appeared, "Hello father, might I ask why you are calling for me on the Agincourt, I'm sure our own comms are working well enough." "That they are son, but this is not something I want your crewmates to hear, I have requested your immediate withdrawal from Mars. You are to cease all operations at once gather your things and prep your crew you'll shall be leaving on the Agincourt for lift off at 15:00 hours tomorrow."

Despite my pleading and begging my crew and I were to return to Earth and be debriefed on our findings, we had spent our full mission time on Mars and were due to return anyway. But that didn't make it any harder to accept, we had found alien life well what was once life and a goldmine of alien technology at our fingertips that we would be able to recover. So after my talk with my father I walked into the Arrivals section of the Station to see my crews heads swing round to look at me, all with hope in their eyes. However when they saw my expression they slumped and turned away, I was assured that they would all return to Mars to assist in the research and decoding of the alien language, but at a later date when a larger and better equipped team would be station here.

Therefore over the next day we packed up our gear and loaded into the buggy, all the crew were quiet including the normally vocal Dominick. As I turned to climb into the cockpit, I heard footsteps behind me and looked to see who it was. "Sir you know that your are supposed to leaving on-board the Agincourt" Liam stated as he stood awkwardly at attention, "If it's all the same to you Sergeant, I'd rather give my team a chance to live a bit of the glory from this poxy expedition. They were the first humans on Mars, the first humans to discover alien life and look how their rewarded, sent back to Earth because of low food supplies! Honestly CASP could have come up with a better excuse, seriously they could just send more over here wouldn't you think!" I shouted at Liam, of course he didn't deserve it he was just relaying orders from command, but I just couldn't take it that they wanted to take my team away from the scientific discovery of a life time, if not several life times and then have the audacity to ask that we take a ride on another ship just so they could pick our brains all the quicker.

Liam looked quick unhappy at being shouted at but he didn't flinch, he simply saluted and walked away towards the base leaving me to climb aboard the buggy and drive away towards the Britannia. "Greg?" I heard Julia call from the rear of the buggy, "We know you tried to keep us here, just don't go blaming yourself for what some stupid politician or psychologist has demanded back at HQ" I let out a long sigh but didn't say anything, I just couldn't look them in the eye, knowing that they were heartbroken for having to leave and it was all due to my father worrying that they were beginning to crack under the stress of this mission, and that it would be safer and more efficient to have fresh minds take over, not that I blamed him, there were signs that the crew were beginning to get frazzled by the mental stresses of trying to crack an alien nutshell.

The drive back to the Britannia was a long and silent journey broken only back the sound of crunching rocks under the wheels outside. When we finally reached the ship, I opened the hatch for the others to disembark but I stayed seated, hands gripped firmly on the steering wheel, I stayed like that for several minutes while the others moved between the buggy and the ship loading up the few soil and rock samples we had collected, as well as the first alien corpse. They all worked in silence until everything was loaded, then they boarded the ship to await lift-off. I reversed the buggy and then drove it up the small ramp into the underbelly of the Britannia. Once I had secured it I told Julia to seal the garage doors and prepare for lift-off.

After I took my place in the co-pilots seat and strapped myself down, I gave Julia the thumbs up to ignite. When I didn't see Julia move to press the ignition I looked over to her only to see the back of her head, I turned as much as the seat straps would allow to look at the other two. They also had the heads turned looking out at the Martian surface and the distant Olympus Mons. "Guys I promise you I'll do everything in my power to get you back here as soon as possible." I didn't expect a response and in truth I'm glad I didn't get one, I simply put a hand on Julia's shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze, to which she looked at me and gave a weak smile "I know you will Greg" she whispered, then hit the ignition.

The return journey was thankfully quick and uneventful, and soon we were entering Earth's atmosphere and the parachutes deployed, "It's a shame!" I shouted over the roar of the wind outside "What is?" Julia shouted back "Well it doesn't seem fitting to ditch the old girl this way. You think they'd park us in orbit and shuttle us down" easier to speak at a normal level when the howl outside died away. "Who said anything about ditching?" Julia winked "You not seriously gonna" I was cut short but Julia throttling up the engines once more and slowing the Britannia enough for her to steer the ship towards the Florida coastline.

"Well I'm not going to let this ship go out without a bang!" "Well I won't say anything against this plan, and rest assured you won't be punished for this little stunt" I smiled at her, I was glad to see that Julia had regained some of her former fire from before leaving Mars and it would be something for the media to go mad about. A six tonne Spaceship built-in orbit landing on the Cape Canaveral Space ports launch Pad.

It was a relatively easy landing considering the size of the Britannia and her weight, and it certainly got Mission controls attention, I switched the inbound transmissions off as they had started screaming at Julia to abort the landing and cut engines. "Let it never be said that you Yanks haven't got balls of steel" Dominick shouted, "Damn Straight" I said in a mimicked Texas accent, which drew laughs from everyone as Julia expertly touched us down.

"Well I hope you know that we're in for some real hot water once we open these doors" "Ahh who cares, what are they gonna do take away your crown and lock us away? Where Empire wide heroes, they can't touch us without the public rioting." Jacob smirked as he reached for the door. Once he had lowered the lander and climbed down he waited for the rest of us to join him while he watched a steady stream of armed guards and military trucks thundering down the runway straight for the ship. "Well you were right at that hot water" Aahlaad said while swallowing hard, "Don't you worry mate, I'll take care of this" I stepped out away from the ship towards the nearest guards,

"Stop right there or I will open fire" the youngest of the guards shouted as I drew closer to him, "What you seriously going to shoot me? I just got back from Mars mate, I'm going to have a shower, come shoot me when I'm clean" I retorted as I kept moving his way, "I don't care where you've been, now stop moving and raise your hands above your head!" He practically screamed this time, I turned to motion the others to join me when, and loud crack went off right in front of me and I let out a loud cry as I clasped my chest, where the bullet that the Private had just fired had struck. I fell to my knees and saw copious amounts of blood gushing from my now crimson suit, as he ran forward his rifle raised and struck me on the side of the head '_Some homecoming' _I thought just before he struck.

When I started to regain consciousness, all I could feel was pain radiation from the left side of my head and the side of my chest, I could also make out what sounded like a swarm of bees all around me, but gradually the buzzing faded and words took its place, but I still couldn't register what was being said, all I knew was that the person shouting was angry, incredibly angry. The shouting was making my head feel like it was about to split in two, and because of this I let out a loud groan and slowing moved my arms to cover my ears. When I make a noise the shouting stopped and then I felt hands grasp my suit and gently rolled me over. I hadn't realised but I had lain face down on the runway in a pool of my blood, which mean that I had only been unconscious for mere moments.

However, when this stranger rolled me onto my back I couldn't help but cry out in agony as my side exploded into flames, but the stranger just kept tugging at my suit causing me more and more pain, I could feel myself slowing drifting into the blackness once more when the suit was removed from my torso and the wound exposed. Again more shouting erupted, and my ears began buzzing once again and with the pain in my side growing even more by the second I couldn't help but scream. It was only moments after the suit had been removed that I felt the a small jab just above the wound, and the pain all but vanished I stopped screaming and opened my eyes, really wished I hadn't though, as the bright harsh sunlight piece my eyes and I screwed them shut.

Of the next few minutes of lying on the baking tarmac with the pain in my head and side ebbing away, I repeatedly tried to open my eyes for longer. I didn't see an awful lot of then the blue sky and small wispy clouds far above me, although that view changed when I saw a face appear straight in front of me thankfully dimming the light. It took me a moment to register who I was staring at but when it clicked I smiled, Julia was over me so I couldn't be I in danger anymore, she would have seen to that. "Greg talk to me! Come on you stupid Brit bastard" She said a little too loud for my liking, "Hey you are you calling a bastard you yank tosser" I croaked but she smiled all the same "Jesus you had us worried there for a minute" she said as she sat back to allow the rest of my crew to look at me, "Well doc what's the problem?" I asked "well you have no doubt got a very severe concussion and you have been shot in the side of your chest, fortunately it hit you rib and stopped, unfortunately your rib splintered, you will have to have surgery to remove the splinters from your lungs and to have the rib reset" Julia said matter-of-factly.

"That all?" I laughed but I was cut short by the searing pain down my side accompanied by a grunt of pain "Yeah try not to laugh or cough for the foreseeable future" "Great just my luck, get back to Earth and get shot by some trigger happy moron! Hey that reminds me where is the brat anyway?" I asked while trying to stand only to have Julia push me back "Not so fast their young man" I scowled at her but she ignored me "the Private is at this very moment having his face blow off by his Sergeant and very soon your father, if that make you feel better" She said while looking off to the side, I tilted my head the same way to look at the Private, "Why did he shot me?" I thought aloud "I think it had something to do with the unscheduled landing, but I don't get why he didn't recognise you" Dominick said also looking at the weeping Private.

When Aahlaad asked the Sergeant why the private had shot me he explained that the base had been on high alert as when the Britannia had appeared on radar CASP hadn't realised it was the ship as it wasn't due to land at the base so they had suspected a terrorist threat and mobilised ground forces as there was no time to scramble fighters. So when we exited the ship and I strolled towards the Private he thought I was a terrorist imposing as the Prince and when I turned he thought I was about to draw a weapon on him, so I had to give him credit.

When Aahlaad told me this I tried to stand again only to have Julia lightly put her boot on my chest to pin me to the floor, "Julia get off of me, don't make me pull rank" I wheezed "Isn't gonna happen sir, were waiting on an ambulance to come and move you, I only gave you pain-killer and coagulants to stop the bleeding and sprayed the wound with disinfectant but we need to get you to hospital, so no moving!" "I just want to talk to the Private" I tried to move again but Julia pressed a little harder and I gave up under the pain, "Fine, but will you get him over here?"

She looked down at me with a devilish grin on her face "What do you say?" I rolled my eyes then looked at her again, she knew that I was in trouble but she figured humour would keep me active, plus with me in this state she could get away with pretty much anything "Please" I gasped to which I saw her eyes narrow slightly at my feeble voice, "Hey you! Private come here!" She shouted. The Private was standing the in seconds, he didn't was look down to where I lay he just stared at Julia, "Yes Ma'am" he squeaked as he snapped of a salute, to which Julia slapped him clean across the face "Not me you idiot!" she shouted and jerked her head downwards.

It took him a moment before he looked down "Ye-yes s-s-sir" he said with new tears in his eyes, "Kid stop crying" I tried to say clearly and assertive but my voice was hoarse and faint, he brushed his eyes but didn't look away, "Don't worry about what you did, okay, you were just following orders, don't ever question your decision!." I rasped, but I brightened when he smiled slightly and gave a textbook salute "Thank you sir" he said with renewed courage, "Right, now piss off" Jacob snapped and the private scuttled away, "Please tell me the drugs were talking just then?" Dominick said as he stared at me, "No that was me, I didn't want him doing something stupid, beside he did his job." It was a real strain to form words now "Julia can you tell the ambulance to hurry up? I'm not feeling so good", I managed to say as my world darkened was more.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter: 7: Debrief

I don't know how long I was out the second time round but it must have been a while because when I woke I was lying in a hospital bed, I tried to move and felt the same pain as before in my side and when I moved the hospital gown I could see a small line down the side of my chest with stitches all the way along. I looked at the stitches and thought that the wound looked remarkably well healed, but my thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door I looked over and smiled when I saw my crew. They were all of theirs suits and in casual clothing, "How long have I been out of it?" my hoarse voice asked, to which I coughed uncontrollably and grunted in pain, and a nurse came around from behind the bed to hand me a glass a water and soothe my breathing back to normal.

When the coughing subsided and I settled back into the bed and breathed deeply, I looked back to the crew they all had worried expressions, "What?" I asked with a smile, "You've been out for a week, mostly due to medication, your rib caused quite a bit of damage when it shattered, the doctors had to remove the bone fragments and then most of the rib as one part had embedded itself into your lung, so there was a lot of internal bleeding." "Thankfully that's all cleared up now" came a deep voice from being them, they turned and instantly stood at attention and snapped of salutes.

My father walked in before dismissing them, he then walked over to my bed and sat down "I'm sorry I didn't meet up when you landed, we weren't expecting the Britannia to land at Canaveral!" He said in a joking tone, "So how are you feeling son?" he asked obviously worried but glad to see me awake, "well it was an eventful homecoming to say the least" I laughed and he joined in. I spent the next week in hospital having my rib repaired but after that I was free to leave. Julia and the others had come to visit pretty much every day, and they informed me that our debriefing would be held when I was released from hospital, so as I checked out I asked the desk nurse to call CASP and tell them to contact me when they were ready.

No sooner had I left the hospital and hailed and cab I realised that there were no press or civilians cramming to interview me, but as I was thinking this the taxi driver turned around and froze "Blimey, you're the Captain of the Britannia aren't ya?" he asked obviously shocked, "Yeah that's me, why so surprised I thought the Britannia's return would be big news not to mention the aftermath" I smiled, "I don't pay much attention to the news, I thought you were still on Mars! And what do you mean aftermath, ay, why you leaving a hospital, where's your guards?" he was well and truly out of the loop, "well I was shot after we landed and have been in there for two weeks." His jaw dropped, "What fool would shoot the Prince?" I smiled, "long story and probably classified, sorry mate." He shrugged, "no worries mate, so where can I take ya?" "CASP headquarters please." He turned and drove away, "Sit tight your majesty, we'll be there in no time."

When we pulled up at CASP HQ I thanked the driver and went to pay him but he said that it was an honour to drive the Prince of the Empire and it would be a great insult to charge me for the ride, despite his protests I left the allotted fare charge on his passenger seat and walked away before he could give it back. I was glad to see the Crew assembled outside the doors, thankfully I had the sense to change into the dress uniform my father had brought me before coming here, they had all been given CASP uniforms upon joining so they were all smartly dressed, however I wasn't entitled to wear the CASP uniform so I opted for my service dress. "Check out the airmen Julia." Jacob teased as he nudge her side she responded by pushing him aside as she looked me up and down, "Lucky for some." I simply smiled innocently and walked past them and into to building.

Inside we found the chairmen and women of the CASP senior board, waiting by the doors to the debriefing room, when the spotted us approaching some smiled widely, while others crossed their arms and frowned, my father was among those gathered and was smiling, thankfully. I had feared that his good attitude was earlier in the month was due to my well-being, but it was nice to see that he didn't hold any bad will about the landing incident. "Son, good to see you up and well again" he said as he hugged me tightly, I stiffened slightly as he brushed the stitches and he pulled back, "Sorry about that, I'm just glad your home and safe" I returned the embrace and ignored the pain. My father had never been one for not showing affection and I appreciated his concern, "Its fine Dad" I said and looked at the other committee members, I stepped back in line with my crew and saluted them.

"Come now your majesty, there's no need for such formalities. Not after what you've been through" A elderly gentlemen said as he moved to shake my hand, but before I could match his action an equally elderly angry-looking women stepped around her older counterpart and stopped between the two of us, "I hope your happy Captain, not only did you jeopardise the safekeeping of the Britannia you also risked an extremely valuable biological specimen!" She spoke in a raised aggressive tone, obviously forgetting that the Emperor was standing mere feet from her. "I will have you know Chairwoman Belgard, that I would never jeopardise the lives of my crew, which in case it might have skipped your mind are the ones responsible for uncovering that specimen and for uncovering the alien facility in the first place! And also if you would be so kind and not brush aside the fact that my crew have been through a lot to bring you these samples, and I would appreciate that you pay them the proper courtesy of getting them" I said as I matched her tone.

"I have no interest in exchanging pleasantries with reckless, lazy fools, who are willing put lives and billions of pounds worth of equipment on the line!" she shouted as took a step towards me, "I am not asking that you do this Belgard I am telling you too!" I kept my tone cool and assertive and I closed the distance between me and the older women. She wasn't used to having people challenge her authority and it showed, she took a half step back as I approach and was about to retort, when "Enough!" My father stepped up between the two of us and glanced from me to the chairwoman, "Remember who you are talking two Belgard" This is not one of your secretaries, and these are not lazy fools, you will apologise to each of them in term and you will announce your resignation from this committee when we have concluded our business!" My father had a way of not raising his voice at all, but the seriousness of his voice showed his anger.

"But your majesty, I am merely fulfilling the role you bestowed upon me?" Belgard spoke in a forced sweet submissive voice, "Be that as it may, you will not address these brave men and women of being reckless, and you will certainly never question my son's authority judgment, is that understood!" he said, "Clearly my 'lord" she said as she bowed theatrically. The room was deathly silent as my father looked upon the old woman with distaste, "Well shall we proceed?" the first chairman said, "An excellent idea, lead on Malcom." As my father moved alongside the old chairman, and the others swiftly followed.

I stared at the ex-chairwoman a moment before moving around her after the group, "You will regret this young Prince" I heard her whisper as I passed to which I turned to address her, "Avice Belgard, I thank you for your service to the crown and her people's" I said with just a hint of sarcasm, "just you wait" she spat back, "pretending to wipe away moisture from my face I turned my head the door guards who had moved to a defensive posture at the women's actions, "If you would be so kind gentlemen to escort this women to the Crown Court of Justice, to await trial for High Treason." I said in the same tone my father used on me as a boy when I had done something wrong.

When I turn to walk away, I spotted Julia standing there, smiling slightly as the shouts of the older women died away, "Your majesty?" she feigned fear, "Remind me never to piss you off!" she spoke in her true tone, "well I seem to remember you calling me a Brit bastard a while back" a smile on my face awaiting her retort as we took our seats, "No that was just the meds in your system, you were dreaming" she said with an almost straight face.

The debrief was over almost as soon as it started, the committee just wanted to make sure that the crew was mentally stable and that they could be trusted to maintain secrecy, as our discovery had not yet been released to the public, my father had wanted us home before the word spread. After the meeting I walked over to my father, "So what should I do now?" I asked genuinely confused as what to do, "Well you're officially on leave from the air force and your a CASP pilot, so I say that entitles you for some shore leave. "I smiled and thanked him, then turned and left for the airport.

When I reached the airport I was just about to buy a ticket for Paris when I felt a tap on my shoulder, I turned and saw Aahlaad and Dominick, "Hey guys, where you off too?" I asked as I handed my passport across the counter to the attendant and turned back to Aahlaad, "Well I'm going home to say hi to my folks." Aahlaad smiled, I waited for himto buy his ticket, meanwhile I looked at Dom "So Dom where you heading?" He hadn't spoken at all while waiting, "I've been suspended from CASP." He said as though it wasn't a big deal but the was an undertone to his voice that hinted to something else, "Why?" I asked stunned, "something about being unstable and endangering the mission."

I was about to respond but stopped myself, Dom had lost his cool on Mars and who knows what countermeasures might have been deployed after he kicked the door to the base. He noticed my hesitation and smiled "Don't worry about it mate at least I can say I was the first human to enter an alien structure, all be it ungracefully." I forced a laugh but I could see that Aahlaad was thinking the same, that Dom had risked everything by losing his temper, and now he was paying the price. After waiting in the departures lounge for a couple of hours, now on my own, as Aahlaad's' and Dom's flights had been earlier than mine, I decided to check the newspapers in a nearby shop, since I had been out of the loop for a while.

As I passed through the crowds of people, some heads turned to follow me but before they could speak the big screen TV's dotted about departures showed the images of the Britannia landing and then flashed the headline _'Britannia returns to Earth!' _and then the anchor spoke and the audio was played loudly through the airport speakers, "The crew of the Britannia has returned to Earth unannounced, and leaked reports indicate the they have discovered and alien structure buried within Olympus Mons" nobody heard anything after that as the crowds of people exploded into excited chattering, those who had spotted me started to call out to get my attention but I had slipped away towards my gate so as not to draw attention.

When I boarded the plane I didn't hesitate before taking my seat and kept myself to myself and waited. When the other passengers started to board they gave me slight stares and several of the flight staff gave looked my way and chatted amongst themselves before the plane was airborne. Thankfully the flight was short, so when landed three hours later into Paris airport I left the airport quickly as the news of Britannia's return was still the hot topic, once outside I raised my wrist display and dialled the number of my personal driver to pick me up and take me home. When he pulled up a short time later I jumped in the back very quickly to escape the stares of the other people waiting for lifts.

"Boy am I glad to see you" I huffed as the driver pulled away he could see I was tired so politely nodded and raised the tint in the windows, smiling I leant back further into my seat a shut my eyes for the long ride home. When failing to properly drop off I sat up and occupied my time with watching the news, I was glad to see that the incident with the young soldier had been deliberately left out of the broadcast and when the car pulled up at the gates to my summer home, I gave my driver an especially large tip and went inside.

For a week I rested in the peace and quiet, but it was never going to last one morning went check my mail, my wrist display flashed and showed that CASP had summoned me to press conference in Florida, I wasn't required to speak as CASP would provide a representative, but I was just required to be present. So, I packed a bag and flew back out to the states that night. Once I arrived I got a taxi to take me to hotel so I could freshen up and change into more suitable attire. After an hour I was ready and it was a repetitively short way from the conference so set off. By now it was common knowledge that I was back on Earth, so many people weren't surprised to see me. They were obviously eager to know if there was any truth behind the supposed extraterrestrials and their Martian base, but a lot of the mission details were still classified, so they would have to wait a little longer before the truth was revealed.

After entering the convention centre were the conference was being held I spotted Julia waiting to the side of the bar in a very elegant formal dress. As I walked over she turned my direction and I waved. It was odd, I hadn't ever seen her out of uniform so to see her standing there in smart outfit was strange. "Hey there sir" she said with a smile, "were off duty Julia, no need for sir in fact no need for sir ever, I'm not you CO." she shrugged, "well this is a big event, so I thought I should be on my best behaviour, there's going to be lots of colony leaders present, we don't want to be seen as substandard officer now do we?" As she spoke she scrutinised my suit and smiled, "You scrub up nice" with a slight tilt of my head I gave her the once over, "not so bad yourself captain, ah it's starting we should go."

Since it was important event I thought we should enter the hall looking the part, so I extended my arm for her to loop round, "well aren't we the gentleman" she said and accepted my gesture and we walked through the cavernous entrance hall passing several heads of state. As we walked cameras flashed from the line of press standing beside the growing crowd of guest queuing to enter, with lots of shouting at us to answer questions about the mission and the aliens, "Sorry fellas, it's still confidential I'm afraid, just wait until such time that CASP deems that information public knowledge." I called back as we reached the end of the queue to enter the main hall

I spotted Aahlaad and his wife a little way up queue standing beside Dominick and his girlfriend, however I couldn't see Jacob anywhere so I guess he was already inside. I waited until we entered the hall and took our seats at the head table to greet them, "Hello you two, glad to see your well" They smiled and took their respective seats while their spouses moved off to main crowd, "Well having free time is useful for when you need to relax" Dom said, "So you not disappointed about being suspended than" Julia asked and he smiled and shook his head, "not in the slightest, I don't have to worry at embarrassing CASP anymore." "How have you been Jacob I asked but we stopped when the senior members of CASP and my father entered, to which we stood and bowed. When my father took his place he started speaking we sat and settled down for a long night.

After a long speech about the future of humanity and the Empire, my father handed over proceedings to the CASP president, he gave a brief speech that he was pleased that the first mission to Mars was a success and that he was overjoyed with the results, he then opened the floor to questions. The questioning lasted for two hours, and boy was I glad I wasn't on the spot, the CASP speaker was run off his feet, he hadn't answered any questions involving the aliens and their base, and it wasn't until the press got fed up and ignored the speaker and started shouting their questions at me and the others. While the speaker tried to remain in control of the situation I glanced from the croud to my father, he gave a small nod and looked forward.

As I stood and moved to the podium the shouting press quietened, "You can sit down now Mr Speaker" he gave me a tired smile and stepped back. "Ok ladies and gentlemen one at a time please." I said as I pointed towards a young reporter in the front, she puffed herself up slightly and raised her recorder, "Thank you Captain sorry your majesty, I'm sure I speak for most of us here if not every human, when I say, what did you find on Mars?!"

Again I looked over to my father for approval, he wasn't looking at me so I took that as approval enough, "After we had started our scanning operations my colleague Aahlaad was scanning the area around the north side of Olympus Mons when his scanner indicated that possible artificial construction located, upon calling in the discovery into command we were ordered to investigate. After we arrived at the side of the mountain we started digging, after a while we exposed the structures entrance, which we have unofficially called The Station, after we gained access to the facility with an unorthodox method" I glanced in Doms direction, he laughed through his nose and took a drink, "we explored it extensively and discovered a tram-line that lead deeper inside the mountain once we activate it we rode it down to section B of the base and discovered an alien corpse perfectly preserved inside a sealed airlock, however we opened the door and recovered the body for study."

I decided it wouldn't be a good idea to mention the Agincourt and the marines, nor the blood stains and pile of bones, "Does that answer your question?" I smiled at the reporter as she scribbled down the last of her notes. The next hour was taken up with filling in the gaps in my shortened version of our mission. By the time I concluded the press conference it was very late at night, so when the attendees filled out to their waiting cars, I walked over to the others, "So you guys getting back?" "Yeah, we brought the kids so we shouldn't be any later" Aahlaad's wife said, as she and her husband put their coats on.

Dom said his goodbyes as well, as he a plane back to Africa booked for the morning, but as the conference had overrun he decided to head over straight away, that just left Julia, "Well how about you?" Before she could answer however my father pulled me aside, "Son you need to come with me." I was puzzled "Is everything ok?" "We've had a priority one transmission from Mars, the marines have inadvertently reactivated the computer core, The Station is active we need your head for Mars straight away, assemble your team, Dominick has been reinstated, Aahlaad and Jacob have already been informed and you will be joined by the Commonwealth's leading language and xenolinguistics expert Christopher Bryce, were sending you all the Florida, good luck son." He gave me a quick hug before he walked over to CASP President, "Well we'll have to put our plans on hold" Julia said as she headed for the door.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter: 8: Revolution

"What do you think the soldier boys did to bring the computers online?" Julia asked as we were hurried into a limousine, "No idea, most likely they did something or went somewhere they shouldn't have, and the bases computer tried to stop them. Either way well soon figure it out." I responded half-heartedly as I settled into the back seat, my mind was mainly focused on getting back to Mars.

Luckily we didn't have to spend a year training, so the only thing we had to get was more drugs to prevent Zero G degradation, therefore upon leaving the press conference, we spent a three-hour drive to Florida and then a father two hours getting the drugs and suiting up. Within six hours Julia, Aahlaad, Christopher, Dominick and myself, were ready to leave, unfortunately we were going to be flying in the Agincourt as it had just returned home to restock and bring a fresh platoon of Marines. Thankfully, the Shuttle wouldn't have to dock with the CSS as the Agincourt had docking clamps which meant that the Shuttle could dock.

With the Shuttle ride over and the crew and I settled in, the Captain got us underway. And the Agincourt was faster than the Britannia, our journey time was a little less than three weeks and with the others and I all except Chris had been awake for the day and night so we decided to get some sleep. As I woke I glanced at my virtual wrist display and I told me I had slept for twelve hours, and we were already three astronomical units from Earth, so the others and I busied ourselves reading up on the marines logs of their time spent in the Station, thankfully they hadn't found nothing new within it so we focused on the reports of the computers activation and subsequent system startup.

Reading the logs took us most of the flight as they were so extensive and numerous, after the sixth straight hour of reading reports on the fourteenth and a half day I decided it was time for a break, we were nearing mars but we still had time so I wanted to speak to the Captain to see if he had any information about why the alien computer activated. "Permission to enter the bridge Captain?" I said as I walked up behind the Captain's chair, "Like you would ever ask for permission on your own ship" The Captain said as he stood and turned to shake my hand.

I knew the Captain from back in my early Air force days, His name was Jeff Monroe or as he liked to be called 'Joker' he had spent his early years in the Air force as a Jr Fighter Pilot, but when he had shown exceptional flight skills he had been transferred to a secret division of the Air force which was where the Agincourt had been developed.

The only reason I Knew about it was because I was because the ship had been commissioned by my father and he had brought me along to watch, as it was before I ever joined the Military. "What do you mean my ship Joker, you're the Captain and besides I'm just a guest." He smirked "Good to see you know the rules still, how've you been?" "You know, same old, finding alien bases and their dead inhabitants" I grinned as he turned back to the viewing screen, "So you know why the computers turned on?" He simply shrugged "It wasn't like we tried to turn it on Piper decide that in a bored feat of genius to smash open a sample case and then all the lights turned red and started flashing but other than that nothing happened, I guess failsafe should have activated but either the computers programming is faulty or there were none left after whatever killed the aliens.

After I Joker and I had spoken for a while I returned to the crew compartment and woke the other, "Rise and shine, daylights burning, landfall in 10 minutes" I barked, of course Julia, the only one of, my crew to have been in the military snapped straight out of bed and to attention. I took her a moment to realise where she was, then she relaxed and shot me a dirty look but I could see her grin as she turned to grab for suit and she was still wearing her protective base gel layer. The other four pulled themselves out and where in their underwear so quickly wrestled to get dressed.

Not five minutes later Dominick, Chris, Aahlaad and Jacob stumbled into the main garage, "These military ships sure are handy, no messing around suiting up in orbit and separating the ship for descent and the ride is so smooth, I can barely feel the reentry" Jacob exclaimed, "Top notch technology gets poured into this baby, "Jokers voice said over the ship intercom, "The RAF spared no expense". "Well don't get to use to it and remember to check your suits for any loose latches I don't want to have one of you flaking out as soon as we land." But I could see my message was already useless, Aahlaad was checking his suit, while Dominick was examining Jacobs.

Julia was leaning up against the garages main door with a slight smile on her face, "We know the drill Greg, like you'd ever let us forget to get our suits" She said the last part with finger quotations, "Before we went anywhere without atmosphere" sighing, I looked back to the rest "You can never be too careful in dangerous situation after what happened to Dom I wasn't about to risk losing one of my friends to a barren planet, let along to something stupid like asphyxiation." She nodded and grabbed a hand rail as the ship bumped a little as it touched down on the surface.

After the short walked over to the bases entrance, the marines and my crew ditched the suits and headed straight inside, but I lagged behind to have a word with Piper who was reading himself to leave, "So I heard about your little incident in one of the labs, care to explain?" He rolled his eyes and made a noise as though he was in pain, "For fuck sake! Has Joker been telling everyone, listen all that happened was I was on one of my patrols of the base when I went into the lab and" he stopped and looked away, as though embarrassed, "What? What happened, Piper" At the mention of his nickname he looked back and sighed, "I tripped on one of the piles of bones and when I reached out to stop my fall my rifle went clean through the glass" He reddened slightly and coughed, "The sample is intact and now you have your computers on so I did you a favour, shows what scientists now huh." I grinned and nodded, as I turned to leave I wished him a good flight home and headed into the Station.

After a lengthy journey I reached the computer room and found my crew already busy at work, Aahlaad was assisting Dom in setting up our new Control Desk where all our virtual data would be stored and ready for analyses and decoding, it also had a large touch screen panel that allowed for us to review the data. Chris was frantically connecting the desks wires to the computer, although I could see he was frantically excited and his hands were shaking, so I went over to assist, "Hey Chris slow down man, we have plenty of time to sort this and we are here for a year." He was taken aback by my appearance and immediately stopped working, "Sorry your majesty, I'm just can't wait to start analysing this data and decoding the alien language." I frowned slightly while looking up from the floor where I had positioned myself to connect the wires, "Chris while we're here, I'm not your majesty I'm just Greg." He hesitated for a moment longer before returning to splicing the wires together.

After two months tireless work Chris managed to build a code gateway for the computer to send data through, for two weeks alien words and symbols scrolled down the screen before ending in a series of red flashing icons, which ended the stream of data, it was obvious from a human perspective that the red flashing icons were warring symbols, and there were seven red icons which could have possibly been linked to our interference in the base. Chris didn't waste any time before entering his Earth Languages Linguistics program which contained all human languages, old and new, into the desk for it to start running through all the languages to try to build a translation.

Hopes had been high initially that we would have a translation before too long but after a another three months had rolled by with only a hundred languages tried, with only limited results we became resigned to the fact that this would take a while. After a month of the linguistics program running through all possibilities, we still had no concrete translations, during that time we had tried to operate some of the alien systems in the labs with some results, we had managed to work out what some of the words meant such as direction from using one of the mechanical arm controls, so we had translated the directions into human, so now Chris was using these words to try to create an alien-human alphabet and from there he could translate the words.

After five days the linguistic program had translated half an alphabet, so Chris restarted the translation of the alien data, and within an hour we had a rough translation, at the end of the list it read "In*rude*s de*ec*ded" and "Unau*ho*ised access" Despite the sketchy words we had our first readable translation of a fifty thousand plus year old alien language and with the words mostly complete we could easily fill in the gaps, it had taken five months and three weeks and five days we had translated the alien language, after Chris had finalised the translation he told us that the language with the most similarities was the ancient Sumerian language, which suggested that these aliens had had contact with prehistoric humans before their deaths.

After the 'Prothean' language was translated we discovered that the Protheans had been monitoring Humanity for thousands of years before their destruction from an enemy far more powerful than themselves, although the database was very specific towards the end of its use on the Protean enemy although the records had become corrupted the identity of the alien force had been lost. The discovery of the Prothean enemy sent shock waves throughout the CASP Seniority and Military leaders, however there was a suspicion that the Protheans held which was that the enemy wasn't permanently based within the Milky Way, and that after the Protein's realised that they would be destroyed they sent all their collective data to their remote science stations in a hope that the scientists could find a way to win, it didn't work and most of the data has now been corrupted.

The main benefit from the newly translated Prothean Archives, named by the CASP science division, was the untold scientific and technological advancements that were now freely available to Humanity, for a start CASP now had a full understanding of the physiology of the Protheans with full DNA and neural pathways data, which from first observation indicated potential for increased human lifespan and increased intelligence. After Chris had finished the translation he started compiling it. "Chris good job now go get some sleep, god knows you need it" I said as I patted his shoulder. He turned and smiled, "Thanks Greg, but I think I'll stay a while, if it's ok with you?" Smiling I turned to leave, "Sure thing Chris but don't stay up to late we need you at your best, there's much more to be done here."

When I left the computer room I went towards our new bunk house and settled down on my bed and opened up my wrist display and watched as the newly compiled and categorised data flowed down my wrist display I was amazed at the treasure trove we had uncovered. For the remainder of tour on Mars we uncovered vast quantities of what the Protean called Element Zero which from the data informed us, it held the ability to change the mass of an object when an electric current passes through it. It was this discovery that scientists had been most excited about.

For several years since the formation of CASP they had researched wormhole technology that would grant humanity the means of traveling across a planet without using planes or ships. The scientists were also fascinated by the Prothean FTL engines, although the engines indicated that they had only a one light year and hour speed it required enormous amounts of power to operate, thankfully humanity had overcome the problem of energy several years prior to the Britannia being built.

The other benefit of having a database that included a details on the Prothean body and bodily networks, was that we could use that to expand the human lifespan from a hundred years to possibly a hundred and fifty and potentially modify the human body to self-heal and regenerate, the benefit was that we could use the data to advance our own science in regenerative medicine. Once I had finished imagining the possibility of the potential technology, I turned off my wrist display and decided to get back to work before we had to pack up shop, since we had accomplished our mission there was no need to stay much longer.

The following months subsequent to our return to Earth saw the news of what we had done released to the world, scientists all over ran at the chance to study the alien data, and with colony councils pouring funds into them, the planet soon saw new technologies spring up, such as wormhole gateways across the planet using trains as the mode of transport, effectively ending all other forms of international travel, however scientists were sceptical that wormholes could be improved much further, meaning that interplanetary travel would be impossible.

As for the crew and I, we were told to take a very long holiday, and return to our old lives afterward, so while Dom, Chris, Jacob and Aahlaad return to their homes, Julia reported to the nearest air force base to be reinstated, while I went to see my father who was back in European Britain at the palace and discuss some things I had on my mind. I was readying myself to leave America when I received a call from CASP asking if I would like to be permanently transferred to them as a full-time captain of one of the new FTL ships they were building, I told them I would love that but would have to clear it with the RAF and my father.

So after I finished the call I took a cab to Grand Central station where one of the newly refurbished wormhole platforms was located and boarded the train for Berlin, as the Imperial Transport Director had commission the Trans Earth Train Link so that all new trains would be directed through all world capitals so that anybody could reach a specific country and then take one of the old train to local stations. The travel time to Berlin was half an hour which would give gave me plenty of time to talk to my father before I had to return to mainland Britain and return to the air force to hand in my transfer papers. When I arrive at Berlin station I called my driver to come get me, after a short wait he arrived and then drove me to the Palace.

The Berlin Palace wasn't as grand as Buckingham Place but it was situated in the heart of the German countryside so it was quiet and secluded which was what was required after lots of Imperial trips and business, and was where my parents spent most of their time, I however preferred the hustle and bustle of London, and Buckingham's ground were so large you couldn't hear much of the city. Once we pulled up outside the front doors I exited saying my thanks to the driver and went inside, I had a good feeling where my father would be so I headed straight for the rear of the palace to where to swimming pool was located, and sure enough there he was lazily swimming about the pool while my mother sunbathe outside.

"Hello everyone, I'm home!" I called theatrically, my mother's shot straight up and ran inside to hug me while my father who was spooked by my sudden entrance choked on water and spent several second regain his composure, and exited the pool but before he reached me his three large German Shepard's bound in and jumped up at me knocking me over and into the pool, as I surfaced coughing and spluttering I could see my parents laughing heartily while the dogs circled the edge of the pool waiting to pounce again, "Well they're happy to see you Greg" My mother said once she finished laughing, "well I'm glad to see all of them too" I said through gritted teeth, the dogs barked excitedly as I waded out and reached for a towel.

Later on that evening after me and my parents had eaten, we were seated in the living room and I decided it was the perfect time to talk, "Dad I was think now that we have wormholes and hopefully very shortly increased lifespans into it time we started to branch out into space, I know we only just landed on Mars but its seems like centuries ago, now we have the ability to go into other star systems, there's nothing holding us back now."

I took a breath as I had wanted to get that off my chest, "You know Greg I was going to say the same to you, I know CASP has offered you captaincy of the Explorer and that you've return home to hand in your papers at the RAF, and I fully support that, I just worried at too much for CASP to do alone. Therefore, I am going to turn CASP into a state organisation so that the Commonwealth can be in charge of our destiny and not a private company, I was thinking of calling it the Intersolar Commonwealth effectively removing all national boundaries between humans, we will still have the commonwealth and the colonies, but as a species we would be united under the Intersolar Commonwealth."

"Well I can agree with that, the only with now is to start." And that's what we did, my father and I took a train to London and set up an Empire wide podcast, to be broadcast live from the Houses of Parliament, when it was ready and the press had gathered, my father and I dressed in our finest Imperial Uniforms walked into the hall and bowed to the gathered Regency Council Leaders and then received their bows, after which I went to take my seat at the side of the speaker's chair, but was stopped by my father who motioned toward to speakers position, "You have to get you practice in son, one day you'll be doing this all the time." He winked and went to stand beside me, facing out onto the crowd, which brought a few hushed voices and lots of flashing from the cameras. Nonetheless I stood firm and began.

"My fellow citizens of the world, I address you from London to bring you a proposal, my father and me have been in council for several hours and have come to agreement, we propose that the Human race formally unite under a new nation which will be named the Intersolar Commonwealth. The ISC will be our government, military, science, finance and transport all rolled into one, the Commonwealth alliance will be replaced with this new one, however the British Empire and her colonies will remain, however this is meaningless as the ISC is what we will refer to as our species title. Now this is only a proposal as we our already a united people so it should be the people who decide. Therefore I shall open this up to the gathered colonial council rulers to decide if we should commission CASP to become a state-run space program to become the space agency of the ISC, to open space for humanity to explore and expand in. All those in against please raise your hands." Twelve hands rose, "Ok all those in favour?" at this a sea of hands rose and a blinding amount of flashes erupted, it was decided, Humanity would go to the stars united as the Intersolar Commonwealth.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: The Rise of Humanity:

(AU: This chapter is moving well away from Britain and everything mentioned before ad is firmly settling within the ME universe. Oh to save confusion, the Commonwealth is basically a big oval spreading in front and behind from Sol but not very far out to the left and right, this is due to the Commonwealth's refusal to use Mass Relays.)

One hundred years passed after the Intersolar Commonwealth was formed and Humanity had blossomed into a vast and powerful society, the Prothean FTL drives had been completely decoded and the Commonwealth built their own improved ones, capable of traveling at 5 light years an hour bringing the boundary of space that much closer, meaning that Commonwealth territory now spanned a thousand stars stretching from the edge of the galaxy to the core and in wide arch either side of Sol along the arms both ways and as of yet had found no sentient alien life mention or not mentioned in the Prothean Archives. However, basic alien life had been discovered on the countless of colonised Garden Worlds humanity now called home. A few of the more impressive and developed worlds were now the centre for most of Humanity's business, such as Arcadia or Terra Nova but Earth still held the Political and social heart of the Commonwealth and was the most defended and profitable of all Human worlds.

The reason behind Humanity's great expansion was partly due to the urge to explore and discover, the other reason was population. After Humans had cracked the Prothean DNA it became possible for humans to live naturally to one hundred and fifty, but with human medicine that could be extended to two hundred years, and by that time new medicines would be available to push death even farther back. The one thing Humanity had failed to find was any evidence of the Prothean's destroyers, however humanity had found the Mass Relays which were used by the Prothean's to travel the galaxy, however Humanity had deemed that until the corresponding relays had been located using conventional FTL the relays would not be used, as the Commonwealth stated that there was no need to use the relays as Human territory was expanding well without them and by the time the corresponding ends were found Humanity would have improved it technology far beyond what it currently had.

Human History: (Post Prothean Discovery)

2019: Humans begin to reverse engineer Prothean technology

2022: Using the Prothean corpse and the Archive data to change Human bodies to naturally live longer

2035: First human FTL prototype built, using heavily influenced Prothean designs, named the Pathfinder

2035: The pathfinder is sent on a survey mission of the Sol system, it completes its mission in 3 week with detailed maps of every planet and moon.

2036: The Pathfinder, after much exploration within the Sol system leaves the solar system for Humanity's closest Star

2037: 5 More FTL probes are built and sent out to more Stars in the proximity of Sol

2040: The Pathfinder arrives at Alpha Centauri and begins scanning for H congruous planets.

2040: The Pathfinder discovers 9 planets within Alpha Centauri, 3 gas giants, 1 volcanic planet, 2 ice planets, 2 desert planets and 1 barren planet which lay within the Goldilocks region, however initial scans indicated that it was lifeless, with no atmosphere.

2042: First Human crewed FTL ship constructed

2042: First Human crewed FTL ship to moon fails due to reactor breach, all hands lost

2043: Second Human crewed FTL ship to moon success and completes its mission of establishing a fully self-sufficient base, however due to the costs of the mission, the plans for a Mars settlement are postponed.

2045: First Human to circumnavigate to solar system

2046: Human settlement established on Titan

2050-2060: All five probes arrive at their destinations, Tau Ceti, Bernard's Star, Gliese 674, Upsilon Andromedae and 55 Cancri.

2051: Tau Ceti possible habitable planet detected

2053: Gliese 674, possible habitable planet detected

2053: First Human crewed FTL ship makes the journey to Mars, and establishes a permanent Human settlement on the surface as well as a sizable an extremely well-funded science base at the Mars Archives.

2054: Bernard's Star possible habitable planet detected

2056: 55 Cancri no habitable planets detected

2060: Upsilon Andromedae 2 possible habitable planets detected

2063: First Human crewed FTL ship to travel beyond the Sol system, named the Seed of Earth

2065: Mars settlement now had a population of 50 million and is the size of London, second settlement established on the far side of Mars. Terraforming begins with the aid of bio domes filled with trees of all kinds and others with terrestrial crops to rejuvenate the soil and to change the composition of the atmosphere.

2066: To speed up the terraforming process huge factories are constructed to build everything Human society needs, however the clean and green rules earth had established on factories are removed to pump greenhouse gases into the thin Martian atmosphere to gradually build up the planet's atmosphere.

2067: The SOE arrives at Alpha Centauri and set down on the third planet, and start constructing the First extrasolar Colony. In much the same way Mars is being terraformed, the new colony, called Fort Britannia, has the capacity to produce large amounts of greenhouse gases as well as growing its own food.

2100: 16 H congruous planets have been colonised and are now fully self-sufficient with steady populations ranging from 7 to 2 billion people. 264 barren but Goldilocks range planets have been colonised and are well on their way to becoming H congruous status. Fort Britannia or as the planets inhabitants now call the entire planet Britannia, is now fully life-sustaining and is one of the Commonwealth's leading economic powers.

2157: The Commonwealth now has a standing population of 45 billion Humans with a standing military of 500 million troops, sailor and airman spread evenly across the Commonwealths 100 Planets, all except the Commonwealths newest colony of Shanxi on the frontier of Commonwealth territory. After Shanxi had been settled the usual arrangements had been made to supply the colony with defences and necessary building materials to get the colony up to self-sufficiency, however when the first part of a five stage defence deployment arrived at the colony the newly established sensors on the edge of the system detected a huge amount of dark energy emanating from an unknown presumed small moonlet object on the far side of the systems only gas giant which until the sensors had been deployed was left largely uncharted. Of course the Commonwealth science directorate instructed the small fleet to investigate the object.

Upon reaching the location the fleet discovered a large obviously alien structure which upon running the objects visual image and structural layout through the ship's computer showed the object to be a Mass Relay, however this one was larger than the others humanity had found, and the crucial detail was that this one was active. After a hasty discussion with the ISC President and the Emperor of Earth it was decided that on this occasion they would allow one ship from the fleet to venture through the relay as the Prothean data showed that no ships were ever harmed from traveling through them and this relay was bigger as it was to use a human phrase a turntable for other relays to link to and it was thought that this was the corresponding relay to all the smaller ones in human space. Therefore, once the message was received the chosen ship the Arcturus approached the relay and once reached 5km from the relay it was shot through space.

When the ship reappeared the crew immediately scanned the surrounding space and found themselves on the very far side of the commonwealth, almost parallel to where they were before, this confirmed that it was a link relay as it bypassed the smaller 'local' relays in the heart of the commonwealth, as the crew remarked that this was the express relay and the others were they domestic ones the Captain noticed that despite being parallel to their previous position they were 100 light years from the commonwealth, that made him worried that they were now far outside the safety of home, but that there were more domestic relays to his physical right, which meant humanity could still grow much further from where it had stopped.

(AN: Okay to further clarify Shanxi is on the very far right of the Commonwealth as Humanity had decided to explore that region of space, now creating a semi-circle. When the Arcturus used the Link relay it was flown to the far left of the Commonwealth but with a 100 light year gap between the second link relay and the left centre of the Commonwealth, this side of space being where the Council races inhabit/patrol.)


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: The Relay Encounter

"So what will we do with all this yard space?" I said to my XO as she settled into her seat next to me, "Well we could always use a military training area, eh Stan" I smiled "You know Kendra I do wish you wouldn't call me that when were on duty and beside do you really think the Commonwealth Colonial Department will let this much space go to the military?" She nodded and glanced off into space, she must have been checking her virtual vision or VV, as I checked my own I saw a priority one message from the Admiral back in the Shanxi system, "Captain Grant report." As I typed my message back to the admiral, the sensor operator sent a red flag into my vision and as I looked his way he spoke, "Sir five distinct targets closing on our location, although four are slowing, materials scans show artificial construction their alien alright."

As I looked at the tactical display on the holotable in front of my chair I could see what he meant, I added the sensor log to my message and sent it, "Red Alert, all hands to battle stations this is not a drill!" I shouted as I sent frantic messages to the bridge crew to raise shields and activate weapons, when I received green lights from all stations I spoke to the comms operator, "Open a direct audio link to the lead ship let's see what they want." I barked and a moment later I received a thumbs up, "Attention unknown contact slow you're heading to quarter impulse and state your intention." Short and sweet, even though they wouldn't understand it would get their attention, and sure enough the ship slowed not to a quarter but they slowed all the same, "Sir were receiving a response, as I listened I order the comms operator to run it through the Protean/Human linguistics program, to my utter surprise several of the alien words became understandable, "Unknown - state - intentions."

This brought on a round of gasps from the bridge crew and Kendra stood from her seat "The Prothean's knew these people, but why is the translation broken?" Kendra asked now standing at my side, "Maybe their language has changed since the Prothean times." I responded intently watching the incoming ship, "Comms relay the PHLP through the link so they can hear the translation." He nodded and franticly typed on his workstation before again nodding, "Again unknown vessel slow to one quarter impulse and state your intention, we are exploring the Link relay from our region of space, we do not wish to fight however we will defend ourselves." For a long moment there was silence nobody breathed on the bridge of the Arcturus until a hesitant response came through the speakers, "How have - translated - words - fast?"

As I let my breathe out I could hear the others do the same, "If you would do me the pleasure of joining me on my ship I would be happy to show you, you may bring as many guards as you like, though they are unnecessary we mean you no harm, we only with for a peaceful first contact." Again a pause, but a little shorter this time, "I will - a shuttle - me to your shuttle - and I will meet you." As I turned for the turbo lift is looked at Kendra, "Prepare for boarding." I joked as she turned to join me, "Well I bet you didn't think you would be making first contact with a new species today did you?" "That I certainly didn't" I said as she told the lift to take us to the hanger bay. When we stepped out into the large expanse of deck area I could see the small alien shuttle beginning it final approach into the Arcturus's hanger bay, "Do you remember the First Contact scenario?" Kendra whispered as the shuttle touched down, I scoffed but secretly opened the Commonwealths First Contact file and downloaded the appropriate files into my memory crystal, and instantly I knew the full Commonwealth procedure on how to greet and alien species.

As the ramp at the back of the shuttle started to lower I stepped up in front of the entrance, holding a pose of strong, confident determination however when I got my first look at the alien I had to do a double take the alien was almost identical to a Human Female, except from the blue skin and tendrils protruding from the back of it head, it too took a long moment to analyse my face and that of my XO's, it was only when after a uncomfortable amount of time staring at each other, I brought my hand up to my mouth and coughed slightly that woke the alien from her stupor, she blushed slightly and quickly walked down the stairs, there was something about her that streamed civilian, but at the same time I kept my guard up, appearances can be deceiving.

Nonetheless when she reached the deck I smiled and extended my hand in welcome, she looked at my hand puzzled, "You shake it, it a customary greeting for my people." I said gently and she must have understood the patchy translation as she very gently slide her hand into mine and I squeezed gently and shook, "Welcome aboard the ISCS Arcturus, my name is Captain Stan Grant, this is my Second in Command Kendra Richards, we are Humans from the planet Earth, who might you be?" The Blue alien looked completely out of her depth it could have been she was much shorter than me or the fact she hadn't realised she had walked onto a military ship, she opened her mouth but was cut short by the ships VI informing me that a full translation had been compiled for both of us, making communication much easier, I gave her an apologetic smiled and gestured her to continue, "My name is Cheum Daro from the ARS Kudos, I am an Asari from the planet Thessia, as you can probably tell I am not a member of my peoples military, I am a scientist who is attempting to start a new Asari population far from the corrupt, flawed government who rule over us."

To say I was surprised was an understatement, "Sorry did you say you're fleeing your government, are you a fugitive? Were you being perused?" She shook her head, "No! We're not fugitives we are free citizens we only want to start a fair and just society far from the Citadel." I was sceptical but was intrigued by this 'Citadel' "So the Citadel it's where your race governs you?" She shuffled on her feet quite anxious now, "Not just the Asari, but two other races, the Turians and Salarians they are three oldest races and found the Citadel since that time they have dictated the action of every other species they find, many of who are now subservient client races with no reals say in how the Council governs.

She looked as though she was pleading for her life, "Don't worry you're not on trial, I have no intention to hamper your plans to escape, my people have long since banished the thought of holding people against their will, but to hear that an advance sentient species that has been travelling the stars longer than my people, believes it is fine to hold client races is unprecedented. And you say that your people found the Citadel you didn't build it? She shook her head, "No from what my people can tell it is an ancient station built by a log extinct race called the Prothean's." At this my head shoot over to Kendra who gave me an equally worried look, "Cheum there is a limit to what I can and can't tell you, at least not until I am authorised, but Humanity has come into contact with the Prothean's, well what remained of them." She gasped and stepped back, "How, when?" I shook my head, "I'm sorry but I am not at liberty to comment further." She slumped obviously she had a keen interest in the Prothean's.

However we had the more pressing matter of formally initiating First Contact, therefore as curtesy dictated, I showed Cheum around the less sensitive areas of the ship, discussing further why she was so keen to escape the Citadel, until at last I received word that the Admiral who was formally entitled to exchange critical information arrived in the system via the Link Relay, and prepared to board, "Ok Cheum my senior officer has arrived and he will now take over the talks, it was a pleasure meeting you." I said as we reached the airlock where the Admiral would join us, "Very well Captain, like you said it was pleasure meeting you I hope our interaction may lead to a successful friendship between your people and mine, well the small portion that agreed to come with me." She smiled at me before returning to a neutral expression as the airlock unsealed.

"Captain Grant, glad to see I wasn't wrong about you son" The Admiral said in his gruff American accent, "Glad I was able to prove my worth Admiral, however may I introduce Cheum Daro, from the Asari." I said in a much more professional tone then I had spoken with Cheum, she stepped forward and extended her hand as I had previously, "Admiral it is good to meet with you." She said in a stronger tone then she had with me, to which the Admiral clasped her hand and shook vigorously, "My dear it is wonderful to meet with you, I hope my young colleague here treated you well?" He said with a slight smiled, "He most certainly has Admiral, if he is anything to go by for your species manners and etiquette I can see that we shall be good friends." She said not breaking her hand from the Admirals embrace.

After several hours, Cheum reappeared from my ready room, "Thank you very much for having me on your ship Captain I look forward to future peaceful transactions with your people." Then she turned and left for her shuttle, then the Admiral strolled out looking extremely happy, "Well the Asari are a very interesting race indeed, they live for a thousand years, no wonder they lead the Citadel council." As I watched Cheum's shuttle returning to her ship I wondered what had been agreed, but I wasn't wondering for long, "Cheum tells me that her government is one of oppression and inaction towards all things Humanity has driven out of our society.

However, we cannot take her word for this, we will need to find proof of this before we act." I nodded, "Sir the only way we can get proof is if we spy on the Council, but we haven't the technology to do this, just look at the Kudos it's a science vessel, yet I has stronger shields and weapons then you're Dreadnaught." He simply smiled again which deeply confused me, "That's why Grant we will be using the Martian data, we haven't touched the surface of what technology we could build with it. I will be putting my recommendation into the Commonwealth Council to open the data up and start researching the technologies within, we could have Prothean level technology within 2 years, which is more than enough to tackle the council."

So, over the course of the next few months the Admiral with the aid of my testimony managed to secure access to the Prothean Archives where he had every scientist and military analysts pick apart the data for new technologies that would grant Humanity an increased level of power hopefully to bring us level or further than the Citadel Races. One thing that I had not predicted was assistance from the Asari, they had been granted temporary asylum on Shanxi until the Commonwealth had explored and colonised the new region of space. However, they were granted extremely little access to the data, only parts that were not vital and non-critical to Humanities security. Therefore, in just three months the Admiral informed me that the Arcturus would be retrofitted with a newly researched stealth drive, which based on Prothean technology was completely human made, as the admiral was ordered that if any technologies were to be made from the alien data it would have to be completely reverse engineered so that it was entirely Human.

And one month later I was shown the newly improved Arcturus and given the mission of finding the Citadel and any evidence that client races existed and if there was any truth to the slavery of sentient beings. Of course we needed to gain access to whatever wireless network the Citadel used, so the ship was fitted with an experimental AI that was designed to hack into any computer, it was the one project that the Asari had been allowed to work on with impunity, so we now had our means of getting the information we needed. The next few days were spent testing the Arcturus around the core worlds of the Commonwealth where the main planetary sensors were based with a large fleet presence, the tests were a success so that evening the Admiral sent me a direct message saying that the Arcturus was ready for its mission to find the Citadel, so in the morning set course for Shanxi's relay and then in the direction the Asari had indicated was the fastest route to Citadel space. Since weeks later as we had not used the Mass Relays to give away our location, we arrived on the far side of a dust cloud which we had been told was were the Citadel was located.

After some careful low level scanning we found the Citadel and proceed to make our way towards the rear of the station where the largest concentration of electrical signals congregated and once we halted behind the station I ordered for the AI to begin its hacking routine. After 15 minutes of continuous hacking the AI finally broke into the network and within seconds the collective Citadel data was stored within the Arcturus main computer, where it was being translated. As I ordered the ship to exit the system I received an alert in my VV saying that the database was fully translated and awaiting review, I was pretty pleased with the result very soon we would be able to find any evidence that slavery existed within the Citadel, of course the tactical data would be worthless as the ship routes and fleet numbers will change, however the location of every Citadel world was now in Humanities possession not that Humanity would ever use this for offence means as the Commonwealth had a very strong view on war, we will not engage in war unless Humanity is serious danger but that does not mean that the Navy is disallowed from defending itself.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: The Council

After a week of constant Human and AI scrutiny of the Citadel data revealed that there were indeed subservient client races but only towards the Turians who had discovered the Volus, but had never granted them independence since that day, there were also an astonishing amounts of neglect and abuse performed by the Council as they had used a primitive warlike species the Krogan to fight a war for them only when the Krogan brought victory and started utilize the technology to expand their race, the Salarians developed a sterility plague and Turians used it on the Krogan in order to reduce their population growth. In addition, the Quarians who had been galactic exiles for more than three centuries had never been granted asylum on any world where they might rebuild their species.

However, the biggest crime the council had refused to act on was the blatant and enormous Batarian slave trade, thousands of council, and non-council species had been abducted by the Batarian pirates the Council data revealed, however the council had refused to act when the newly acquired slaves arrived at the Batarian homeworld, where they stayed until they died. Therefore, it was decided that as soon as every Commonwealth ship had been retrofitted with the new stealth systems and improved shields and weapons, the Commonwealth would send one ship to the Citadel to meet with the council, accompanied by the senior Asari scientists, so to make it appear that the Asari ships had discovered Humanity and after the initial first contact invited the ship to meet with the larger Galactic community where the Captain of the head Asari ship would introduce the Captain of the Human ship.

This was the part of the plan that the Commonwealth was most interested in, as Cheum had explained that the Asari Republics treasured discovery almost as much as the Salarians only they preferred living discoveries, and as Cheum explained every Asari who discovered a ground breaking new discovery, such as a sentient species they were immediately put forward for special treatment. That really meant the Asari who made the discovery could chose to be whatever they wanted within reason and within their skill set, and that meant that if Cheum 'discovered Humanity she would be able to become the Asari representative for the council as she had been in the Asari senate prior to her transfer to the science division and eventual escape. With a powerful ally secured within the Citadel Council Humans could indirectly influence the other races into becoming a more tolerable society.

Therefore, after 8 weeks of fleet retrofits and tests the Commonwealth Council decided that the best Ship to send was the Arcturus, as she had been to the Citadel and was the first ship to ever encounter the Asari, although since her retrofits several of the senior crew had pulled off the crew as they had been either promoted or reassigned and new officers had been reassigned to the Arcturus and all the new senior officers were fresh from the academy which made the oldest 21. Thankfully the Admirals had been kind enough to keep me as her Captain, although Kendra had been put forward for promotion after the Citadel mission, she was to be the Captain of the newest Commonwealth ship the ISCS Incorruptible, that meant I would receive a new XO so far I hadn't heard much about him other than he was Earthborn with both parents in the Admiralty and an amazing track record.

So while I waited for his arrival in high orbit above Earth I checked over the service records for the other new additions to the ship, first there was the pilot, he was the one I was most looking forward to meeting he had broken every record in the Commonwealth Flight Academy, and was the best pilot in the entire fleet, not to mention his father had flow the HMS Agincourt back when Humanity had first found the Prothean science base, he too had taken to calling himself Joker in memory of his late father. Second, was the new Gunnery Sergeant Ashley Williams she had been born on Sirona a middle expansion phase colony world, she had joined the Navy at sixteen and from what reports said was an extremely quick learner, hence how at eighteen she was now a sergeant. Lastly, there was 'Piper' he was seen by most as a living legend.

Most actually believed the man was dead, but due to the advances in medicine since his time as Royal Marine way back when Jokers father flew the Agincourt, he had survived until the time when the first cellular rejuvenation had been introduced, it was rumoured that the Emperor back in 2027 when the treatment first came out had stepped in when Piper had been rejected from receiving treatment as he had been a loyal soldier and had become one of the Princes closets friend. Since the time when he had been rejuvenated he had retired, but upon hearing that alien life had been discovered, almost 9 months ago he had reapplied and had been accepted without question as his file still held the official seal of the late Emperor Julian Bryce which gave him the right to choose his rank and position, but he as most old worlders, was fair and didn't use his status to enhance his standing, so after his time at basic and then the academy he was the ship's Master at Arms but everyone called him the Chief.

I was very pleased with the selection of new crew members and as their shuttle docked with the Arcturus I was already awaiting their arrival. The first one to enter was Piper when he saw me he snapped to attention and gave a perfect salute, it was an odd thing to look at someone who at the age of 143 was physically younger than myself, "It's good to have you on-board Chief, once you're all aboard i'll show your cabins." I said extending my hand, he dropped his arm and shook my hand, "Glad to be here Sir! It's a privilege to serve under you." That surprised me I had read reports from when he had served on Mars, it said he was for want of a better word a maverick, no real regard for the chain of command but that seemed to have changed, I guess age brings out the best in some people I mused as I heard two distinctive sets of footsteps coming through the docking tunnel, and moments later two perfectly dressed teenagers popped off simultaneous salutes and remained stationary.

"Ah Helmsman Monroe and Sergeant Williams, good to have you on the team." I said, "Glad for the opportunity Captain." Ashley said very determinedly, "Likewise Sir, can't wait to make your ship dance." Joker said in a similar tone to Ashley's, "Well helmsman the Arcturus is a Cruiser not a ballerina, but if you can give the old girl a spring in her foot that will do just fine, now let me show you your quarters."

An hour later I was on the bridge going over the last through crew reports and AI system checks, "NEON can you give me the time of when our new XO is due to arrive." The AI system which had been installed for the Citadel mission had finally been named, it stood for Neural Electrical Offensive Network which was what the scientists had called it but the crew thought it was because the holo-image the AI projected was always in vibrant neon colours, "The new XO for the Arcturus is approximately 5 seconds from the bridge Captain." Said a computer synthesised female Australian voice, as I stood and turned the bridge doors opened and a young dark-haired man stood there in his dress uniform, "Permission to enter the bridge." He said, "Granted, you must be the new XO. I'm afraid I don't know your name." I said as he walked toward me, "That's correct Sir I have been assigned to the Arcturus as the replacement XO, and my name is Shepard John Shepard."

When Shepard had authenticated his documents and finalised his reassignment with NEON. I then contacted Sol Space Command for permission to exit Earth orbit and use the FTL to leave the system, after a short wait I got the green light and with the crew already I can the order, "Joker take u out of orbit and spin up the hyperdrive lay in a course for the Shanxi Relay." Then I took my seat and watched as the blue green planet below and the stars in front vanish I a blur of blue light. Shortly after the jump I left Shepard in command of the ship while I went my personal quarters for some long overdue rest. However in what felt like no time at all I was being summoned to the bridge as we were closing in on the Shanxi Relay, "NEON has the FTL engine been upgraded?" "Yes Captain it was the last of the newest upgrades to be fitted before we left Sol, the Arcturus can now travel at 15 light years an hour journey time from Sol to Current position is 4 hours."

After dressing I entered the bridge to find Shepard in deep conversation with the ship's Navigator, a young women from Scandinavian descent, "Captain on deck!" NEON said much to my amusement, the remaining old crew laughed. They knew that things weren't like that while I was in command, yet the newest officers jumped to their feet and stood at attention, "At ease, that's one thing you will learn while I'm your captain, if you do your job well, earn my respect then you can take a few liberties, and NEON next time you can leave out the protocol. Shepard!" I barked showing the crew that despite the fact I was an easy going Captain I did demand loyalty and respect from my crew, "So what's the problem?" Shepard relaxing from his dead straight pose walked over, "Sir the Asari have asked if we are ready to proceed."

I yawned, "Well by all means Shepard it's your ship till 8 o'clock Earth Standard Time, but a word of advice when you arrive late to your new ship and when your Captain lets it drop, do not request his presence the bridge when he has asked not to be disturbed unless absolutely necessary, understood!" I almost shouted, but seeing the look on his face and the rest of the crew trying their best to look like they weren't there, I calmed slightly but as it's your first day I'll let it slide, now maybe you can let me get a full nights rest?" I asked more light heartedly, but Shepard didn't soften, "Yes Sir, sorry Sir!" He replied. I didn't feel bad after all he was a rookie as far as I was concerned and he had been extremely late to the ship, he should have been the one to greet the other new arrivals, and at the end of the day this was my ship and to let him off that easily, I figured he was used to getting his own way, what with Admirals for parents and all.

When my alarm went off hours later I was feeling almost human again, "NEON, Status?" "Good morning Captain, currently 30 minutes out from Citadel, since you were last on the bridge new now developments have occurred, would you like me to start the shower?" I smiled as sleep lost its battle to keep me in bed, "What would I do without you NEON?" As if in response my personal music started playing and the sound of the shower emanated from the next room. "What a way to start the day." I said as I grabbed a towel and went for the shower. Five minutes later, dressed and walking into the bridge I waited to see if AI had senses of humour, thankfully either NEON didn't have one or knew it wasn't great timing as when I entered there was silence apart from the murmur of machines.

"Good morning Shepard, go get some rest lad, you've done well no alarms or problems all night the first time I was left alone when I was and XO I had far too many that I don't wish to remember." I said smiling as Shepard turned, "Thank you sir but wouldn't you like me to gone with you onto the station?" "Of course I do but how long do you think it's going to take the Citadel, an alien fortress station to decide whether or not to allow a new, completely unknown alien species to dock with it. Trust me you will be able to get at least five hours sleep maybe six and good shower, don't waste this I could be wrong." I said an eyebrow raised, to which he smiled and walked at a brisk pace to his quarters. Minutes later the Arcturus and the Kudos exited the relay and with the Kudos in front both ships headed for the Citadel.

When the station became clear through the thick cloud of dust I could see the same domineering defence fleet out in front of the stations arms, I figured they would have seen us too and would probably ignore us, at least until they registered that the Arcturus was a unknown design and make, it didn't take long. When the Kudos and the Arcturus crossed within 5km of the station 20 Turian frigates turned and headed for my ship, "Ok Cheum now's your time to shine" I said and then I heard Cheum's voice speaking to someone else, "Turian Frigates stand down, this is the Asari science vessel Kudos, the ship trailing us is the ISCS Arcturus from the Human race a new, peaceful species who have agreed freely to meet with the Council." There was no response and the ships kept closing, "Cheum try hailing on an open frequency then the station will hear." I suggested "I repeat, these aliens are friendly they do not wish to fight, they have come to speak with the Citadel Council to formally introduce themselves to the galactic Community." Cheum tried once more, but the ships kept coming.

It wasn't until I was on the very edge of ordering shields online and weapons up to begin a tactical retreat when an open band radio message was broadcast over the speakers of the bridge, "Turian Ships stand down this is Councillor Brunus Calril, Human vessel you are ordered to halt your course immediately until such time as told otherwise." The link ended and the Frigates stopped their approach. "Helm full stop." I ordered but Joker was already slowing, "Cheum you proceed ahead but wait until I join you before revealing much more" She agreed then closed the link. For the next four hours we stayed in the place with 20 frigates watching us intently daring us to move so they could shoot us down, I wouldn't give them the satisfaction. It wasn't until the bridge doors opened and a rested Shepard appeared beside me that I realised I was lost in space, "Ah there you are, told you could get a good rest before anything happened, although you maybe just in time."

I said as two frigates closed the distance between us and then manoeuvred in order to position themselves either side of my ship, "ISCS Arcturus, match your speed and heading to ours we will guide you into the docking area." Came an open broadcast from the ship on my left, "helm you heard the man, or alien." I joked, but inside I could feel the beginnings of nerves, then I realised we had no way to dock with the Citadel, "Comms open a link to the ship who contacted us." When she gave me a thumbs up I spoke, "Turian Frigate we have no means of docking to the station, request permission to pilot a shuttlecraft to the stations nearest landing pad." I waited, "You may take a shuttle to the landing pad." Then the link was closed.

When we closed on spire like docking station myself and Shepard and our comms operator Samantha Traynor, flew the remaining distance in a standard shuttle to the large pad situated on the side of what looked like a customs section within any Commonwealth Spaceport, I flipped on the external cameras and saw a huge crowd of aliens one of which I knew, the Asari, but the others I couldn't name as there had been no visuals on the stolen Citadel data, but I would soon find out what they were. "You ready for this?" I asked, Shepard nodded Samantha just whimpered I gave her a firm grip on her shoulder and whispered, "Don't worry I won't let you out of my sight." Then I hit the door release, the noise outside that had been building the whole time since we landed stopped abruptly, and when the door slid aside the gathered crowd behind the glass, gasped, growled, hooted and all whole load of unearthly noises as they got their first glimpses at Shepard, Samantha and me standing there.

I could feel hundreds of eyes boring into me, but held my ground and I was glad to see that Traynor and Shepard managed to keep themselves standing firm and facing down the alien horde, then I spotted Cheum walking towards us accompanied by five tall, fin headed aliens and they all carried weapons, instinctively I reached for my waist and rested my hand atop my pistol, I saw Shepard do the same. "Captain please if you could come this was the CSEC officers have a sky car waiting." Cheum informed me but I didn't take my eyes off the weapon toting aliens, nonetheless I stepped down and was glad to see that despite the gangly frame of the aliens that made them look freakishly tall I was only an inch or two shorter than them.

I saw the closest glance at my waist where my hand was still resting, and barked something the PHLP couldn't translate, then he brought his weapon up and pointed in my face to which I saw Shepard go to pull his pistol but with my free hand I stopped him and then gently removed my hand from the top of the pistol. But when the alien made a move to grab my pistol I grabbed his hand twisted it and pulled, the alien howled in pain and dropped his rifle that was when the other four brought their rifles up, "Cheum tell them I didn't take kindly to having a gun pointed in my face and then having the wise gun try and disarm me without asking." I snarled as the enraged fin heads shouted at us, with only a few words coming out in English, "Traynor why can't we understand them I thought we added the new languages to the PHLP?" She was lost for words, too afraid to speak as the four guards continued to roar, it was at that point when three extremely smart looking aliens rushed over to where the 9 of us stood, one alien holding his dislocated hand, while his four colleagues shouted at us.

Cheum turned and spoke hurriedly to the single Asari that had approached, when Cheum finished the second Asari turned and spoke to the Fin headed alien who for several seconds shouted just as loud as his fellows at the Asari gave one quick shout at the guards who quickly stepped in line and lowered their rifles. The third and alien who had remained silent studied the three of us with intense scrutiny, "Captain Grant I presume, why on Thessia would you provoke the guards?" The Second Asari spoke in clear translated English, "Madam Councillor I presume, might I inform you that greeting your new fledgling alien guests with an armed party of highly aggressive aliens, who attempt to disarm said aliens seconds after arrival on to them a huge alien station were who knows what might happen to the now defenceless aliens is not the greatest idea. I only acted in self-defence, your guard is fine, I merely dislocated his hand I could just as easily reinsert it at no pain to him whatsoever."

The Asari looked Stunned, "How do you have the ability to speak Asari so quickly?" I was about to respond when I remembered where we were, "Perhaps Councillors we should move to a more private area to conduct our talks?" The Asari Councillor turned and looked at the huge crowd that had gathered to watch the Humans arrive, "That would be best, follow me." Shepard looked at the Fin heads then to me, "Not the best way to start relations Captain." I nodded, "I know but we can fix this, at least it wasn't all out war."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: The First Steps

The Asari, Fin head and silent, hooded alien led the way towards a large metal door which upon opening led down a long corridor, obviously abandoning the idea of using a sky car. Samantha had stayed very close to me and Shepard as we walked, and she kept glancing back at the guards as they followed although they didn't acknowledge the look you could see their unhappiness, "Councillors I hope my interaction with your guards will not be had against my species, I apologise for my actions but you must realise I reacted on defensive instinct not out of aggression." The Fin head growled something under his breath, while the other two slowed to come level with me, "We understand Captain the Asari Councillor said, however we cannot take your words as truth until we can gain a better understanding of your species."

I nodded, "Just to get the ball rolling can you tell me who and what your fellow councillors are?" The Asari smiled, I am Councillor Tevos, as you now I am an Asari, this is the Salarian Councillor Regok Yezze, she is soon to be replaced as she is retiring soon and finally the Turian Councillor you have already met, well heard." As she finished the introduction we entered a secluded transit platform, "We have decided since we cannot make public exit we will travel directly to the Council Chambers where we can clear up the mess and start the negotiations. You can board this sky car and follow us up." I gestured for Shepard and Taylor to board the shuttle them followed them, it wasn't until I sat in the front that the Turian Councillor quickly sat beside me, much to the surprise of his colleagues and the three of us in the car, "Taylor have you updated the PHLP yet?" I looked back at Traynor as she fiddled with her touch pad, "Yes Sir I have updated the translation software so you should be able to speak." I turned to face the Turian as the car lifted off and sped away after the other councillor's car, "Councillor Brunus, is there something you wanted to ask us?" The Turian jumped when he heard me speaking his language, "How are you speaking Turian Human? You have only just come to the Citadel!" It suddenly dawned on me that we had been speaking to aliens we technically hadn't meet, so to be speaking their language after such a short time must seem suspicious, "Humans have developed a super advanced biological interface into our bodies, it allows us to translate new languages almost simultaneously, although Turian must have been a particularly difficult language to translate we only translated several of your words from before."

He took several moments to digest what I had said, then spoke, "Humans must be particularly gifted with technology to have invented biological machinery, your ship is testament to that. However, I want to know why you have followed the Asari scientist to the Citadel, it makes no sense for a new species who have just made first contact to follow said aliens to an unknown location." His face was calm and quizzical but his eyes were serious, it looked as though he didn't believe our story and was burning to know the truth, "Councillor I can see nothing passes you without you knowing something, in truth Humanity stumbled upon the Asari when they were performing a deep space survey, we intercepted them and asked why they were there, and after much discussion I was ordered by my leaders to meet with you so as not to appear as though Humanity was hiding, as your scientist would obviously of told you of their discovery.

"I thought as much the Asari I to blind by talks, scientists would never have brought you here so fast they would have wanted to study you. I'm glad to see Humanity has the courtesy and brains to announce their presence to the Citadel Council, and it's a good thing you did, otherwise I may well have ordered a fleet to find your species and bring you before us for talks on your integration into our society. However, you are here so now we have to make certain political statements and work out how best both of our cultures can merge." I noticed how disappointed he sounded when describing what they must now do, I got the feeling he would have relished the prospect of sending a subjugation fleet to tame another rogue species into submission.

We sat in silence until the car slowed and then settled on the ground again, "Welcome to the Council Chambers Captain." Tevos said, "Cheum is currently authenticating her find with the Asari board of Scientific Discovery she will be along shortly." I marvelled at the size and class of the hall the ceiling was so high I couldn't see it and after climbing the central staircase we emerged on a flat expanse of floor with an elevated position at the far end, "This is where we leave you Captain, however we will be back momentarily." Regok said, I was hesitant to move as I stood with my crew in the huge chamber, then realised that around the edge of the chamber were the silhouettes of oddly shaped bodies and some more distinctive Humanoid shapes, "We have an audience again, don't do anything stupid this is likely our official introduction with the council."

I said more to myself then the others but I heard them acknowledge it all the same, then Cheum appeared and stepped up beside me looking exceptionally happy with herself. "What's the news?" I whispered to her, "Well from what was said it looks like this time next week I will be standing where she is standing." She whispered back while slightly indicating towards the podium. I looked to where the three Councillors now stood now dressed in even finer clothing, "Today is a momentous day for the Citadel for a new species has made peaceful contact with us, we welcome the Captain of the ISCS Arcturus to the Citadel along with two of his crew, they are member of the Human species, and they were discovered by scientist Cheum Daro. She was exploring a deep region of council space."

And so it was that Humanity was released unto the galaxy, the Councillors called me up at some point to introduce myself and give a brief statement about Humanities past and our culture, after that the session was closed and we were free to explore the station, but before we made it out of the Council Chambers lift we were set upon by hordes of alien onlookers, Samantha was too overwhelmed by the whole thing that I ordered Shepard to take her back to the ship. As for me I wanted to look around some more although this was made extremely difficult by the still growing crowds of people, yet I persisted on and soon found my way to what looked like a shopping centre, and after looking at the alien letters on the wall to the side of me, my VV translated them into English it read Presidium.

I spent the next few hours walking in and out of every shop I could find, most of the curious aliens had departed so it was much easier to explore. I ended up finding a small section of shops on the lower level of the Presidium and then I came across a café and decided to try some alien food. As I entered the Salarian at the counter looked up and his jaw dropped as did the aw of his two patrons, an Asari and a Turian, who from the looks of his armour he was in CSEC nonetheless I walked up to the counter, "Hello there, I was wondering what food you have that I would be able to eat, I am a Levo amino based life form." He tilted his head and gawped but then he snapped back and blinked very rapidly, "Yes certainly, although I do not know what to recommend for you as I have never seen your species before."

I nodded and looked at the menu above his head, but as I was choosing I felt a tap on my shoulder, I turned and looked down to see the Asari looking up at, "Excuse me, but what are you?" I smiled, "I am a Human I'm new to the Citadel as you can probably tell it's nice to meet you, what's your name?" The Asari grinning with pride buffed herself up, "My name is Liara T'soni I haven't got long I'm meeting my mother here, could you tell me something about your species." I was going to continue but then I saw another Asari watching me intently, "I guess your Liara's mother." She walked closer and put an arm around her daughter, "I am her mother yes, who are you why were you talking to my daughter." She said in a defensive tone, "I am Captain Stan Grant from the Intersolar Commonwealth I am a Human, your daughter was curious about what I was, so I told her, I didn't mean to cause you any worry."

The older Asari simply nodded and guided Liara out of the café, before they left Liara turned and smiled apologetically at me, I then caught sight of the Turian, his eyes were fixed on me and he sat back against the wall with his talons stroking his right mandible, "Strange, I wouldn't have thought you would have been able to sweet talk your way out of talking to Matriarch Benezia's daughter." The Turian said in a deep voice, "Matriarch eh? Well glad I was on my best behaviour. Who are you if I might be so bold?" I said with a smile, the Turian stood and walked over to me he extended his hand, "Saw you do this when you arrived, just don't break my wrist please, the names Garrus Vakarian Private at CSEC the stations police if you will, you know that guys wrist you snapped isn't too happy with you id watch your back."

He said it in a way that made it sound threatening, "I don't want any trouble here, and besides your colleague was a bit too in your face for my liking." I said bracing myself for a confrontation, "No don't get me wrong he's unhappy about it, I thought it was the funniest thing that could have happened to the old man, picture this a new alien steps foot on the Citadel and he tries to intimidate it and instead the alien breaks his wrist, who knows he might start using his brain before talking to strangers." Garrus said before bursting into laughter, I relaxed and pictured what he must have seen and started laughing to.

After that I left the café with Garrus as he said he had been instructed to take me back to my shuttle after CSEC had located me entering the café, "So Garrus what made you leave your home planet to work on the Citadel?" I asked but notice him stiffen, "My father wanted me to join the military, it's customary for Turians to join when they become of age, but I didn't want to be just another grunt in the galaxy, I want to make a difference, so I joined CSEC to fight crime, so far though I haven't left the office well until now, guess I got promoted to escort duty." He said glumly, "Well it's not every day you get to talk to a new alien is it?" He paused then smiled, "I guess you're right I'm the only one in CSEC to have spoken with a human, maybe my father won't think this is such a worthless job after all." I looked at Garrus for a second then had to ask him something, "How old are you Garrus?" He didn't falter, "I just turned sixteen been with CSEC for three months now." I was shocked, "Turians can start military training at fifteen?" He shook his head, "No we start at thirteen I only managed to void starting at that age because I was still at school", I shook my head in disbelief, "And this is voluntary yes, you aren't forced into military service."

He was about to respond when a loud bark of a voice called out and Garrus snapped to attention, "I turned and saw the same Turian who had tried to disarm me and he didn't look impressed, "Private Garrus, what is the meaning of your late arrival, I ordered you to bring this back here as soon as we located it!" The Turian shouted into Garrus's face, "Excuse me, but I think the time when I should return is down to me correct, after all the Councillors did give me the right to explore at my own leisure, I would appreciate you not punishing your Private for doing his job." I said perfectly calmly, but the look the Turian gave me made it look like I had called his first born ugly, "You have no right to lecture me on how I treat my officers! If it were up to me you would have been locked in prison for what you did to my hand!"

He said as he raised his hand, I probably should have known better but I started laughing as the Turian had applied so many bandages to his hand and wrist anyone would think I had snapped it off and he needed to hold it in place to heal, to which the Turian with his uninjured hand swung it out in order to strike me, only this time I hadn't expected it, the Turians hand hit me clean across the side of my face. As staggered back slightly before could feel blood running down my neck but before I could check the damage I was struck again, this time from behind I let out a shout as I fell and caught sight of Garrus trying to stop the first Turian from reaching me, I then felt a distinctive cold object touch my exposed neck, "Stupid Human, you think you can make the Turians look weak. Once we tell the Councillors what happened after you and your two crew members did to Garrus after you jumped him, when he was coming to bring you back to your ship and unfortunately killed him, the whole Citadel will cry for revenge and soon your worlds will burn and the Turians will have a new slave species to call its own. It was then I saw Shepard and Taylor knelt down off to the side, Shepard with a badly blackened eyes and several cuts on his face and neck, while Traynor whose face wasn't harmed was obviously in serious pain as she huddled close to Shepard.

"Nice to see how newcomers are treated." I started to say before I was hit again this time in my ribs, I could feel several snap instantly but I held in my shout of pain, not wanting to give them the satisfaction, "You think your tough Human?" Good I will enjoy making you scream, or perhaps I should harm the female, that might make you more receptive." The first Turian said as he started to walk over to Traynor, who tried to squirm away before she was grabbed by her hair and dragged into a standing position. Garrus who had been restrained by two of his colleagues shouted at his CO who ignored him, I was about to move to stop the Turian when five short snaps could just be heard over the shouts of Garrus and Taylor, then the metal on my neck vanished and the five CSEC guards dropped to the ground each with a neat hole through their heads.

As I stood I looked over to where the shoots must have come from, and sure enough there stood a solitary figure, sniper rifle slung over one shoulder, a message appeared in my VV, "Got you covered Sir, Piper." I smiled and gave a quick salute in his direction. Before he vanished back to where he had hidden, "Who was that?" Garrus exclaimed as he helped Taylor back to her feet, "That's Piper my ships Master at Arms, glad to see he kept his eyes sharp." I said as I checked over Shepard, who stood unevenly on his feet, "I think one of them broke my leg, as pay pack I guess." He said through gritted teeth as he tried to walk, "We let's get back to the ship and get your both fixed up, Garrus are you ok?"

I'd just noticed a large cut on his neck, "Yeah I'm fine the bastard just nicked me." He said as he gave one of the dead Turians a healthy kick, "You know Captain this is going to cause huge problems for Humanity, the fact that five CSEC officers are dead at the hands of Humans, I will back you up of course but I don't know how the Council will take this." He said in a defeated tone, "Never you mind that now Garrus, you see we humans have these wonderful things called cameras and microphones, these fools won't have a thing on Humanity once your Councillors see this." Came a distinctly accented voice from the shadows, then Piper came strolling out holding a small data chip in his hand, sniper rifle nowhere to be seen, "You must be Piper, you have my thanks for what you did, your skill with that rifle, you could almost be Turian." Garrus said as he shook Pipers hand.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Down to Earth

Minutes after Piper had killed the five Turian officers an entire platoon of more CSEC officers had swarmed onto the scene, and yet again I found myself on my knees with a rifle barrel pointed at my head, only this time Garrus was standing front of me urgently explaining what had happened and why five CSEC officers were now dead, the Captain looked sceptical but listened to Garrus speak, afterwards the Captain asked for the recordings that Piper had taken, Garrus showed him and the loo on the Captain face changed to one of disgust and anger. When he had watched it back several times and asked one of his tech specialists to verify it was genuine, when satisfied he ordered the others and myself to be freed.

When I stood the Turian Captain was looking intently into my face, "You should get that looked at Human, the one who hit you his armour caught your cheek badly you will have to have it stitched." I nodded, "So, what are you going to do?" He sighed heavily, "Of course I will have to inform the Council of what happened here but rest assured with Garrus's testimony and your video evidence I'm certain you will not be punished for this," He turned and left. After that my crew and I returned to the Arcturus and awaited to receive word from the Council, as it turned out we didn't have to wait very long as on the external cameras the three Councillors walked into the docking bay.

As I made my way to the airlock where the crew had constructed a ramp leading to the docking platform I could hear quite a lot of shouting taking place, sighing I open the airlock door and walked down the ramp to be greeted by a very angry Turian Councillor, "Why Human for the love of Palaven are you such a problem, do you enjoy causing complete chaos wherever you go? Five CSEC officers are dead, the same officers that you had a disagreement with not hours ago, now your video evidence and a fellow CSEC officer's verbal statement do give you a very good chance of not being in the wrong, and I just cannot accept that this could have happened without provocation."

"Brunus, honestly how can you try and portion blame onto the Human, you yourself said the video evidence was conclusive not minutes ago and look at the state of the Captain face, he still shows the physical evidence of the attack." Regok said obviously not impressed by the Turians attitude, Brunus looked as though he was going to retort but a swift hand gesture from Tevos silenced him, "Captain I am incredibly sorry to see your crew and yourself harmed by the very people who are supposed to protect us, please accept our most sincere apologies." She said as she bowed her head, "Councillors you need not apologies for what has happened, in truth is my fault, I brought this upon my crew." The Asari smiled, "Honest and noble, be careful Brunus these Humans may be more like you than you suspected." I smiled but inside I felt disgusted, had the Asari really compared Humans to Turians the species which openly relished the prospect of war and that of taking species under their grasp for their own gain.

It was decided that my crew and I were to be given a formal apology from CSEC, to be broadcast to all Council species, the Councillors assured me that all of the agreements made at the earlier talk would be honoured and Humanity would be granted it embassy within a week. I decided it was time to contact the Admirals and Commonwealth leaders, of course they would ask how I now had a two inch long cut across my cheek, that would be a fun discussion, but the main reason I wanted to talk to them was to arrange for the Councillors from the Citadel to come to Earth to start the process of settling the seeds for our plan to change the Citadel government.

So after a lengthy talk most of which was the Commonwealth leaders demanding strong action be taken against CSEC for what had happened by thankfully the President and Emperor had settled them down saying it was too soon to be making demands of our new neighbours, however they had agreed that to bring to Citadel Councillors to Earth was a good idea as by the time the diplomatic process had been completed Cheum would be the new Asari councillor and Regok would have been replaced as well, this would give Humanity its first foothold onto shaping the new Citadel. Another ISCS ship was sent to join me carrying our official diplomat, I was required to be present for the talks so quickly washed, dressed and decided to check in on Taylor and Shepard before I returned to the Council Chambers, Taylor was still shaken by the Whole experience but considering her age she had coped brilliantly.

I chatted to her for a while assuring her that she was not expected to do anything else she didn't feel comfortable with, when I reached Shepard's room, he acted as though nothing had happened, he seemed perfectly calm and collected, again I said that he had the night off and that he wasn't expected back on duty until the second round of talks were finished, when I was satisfied he was fine I left the ship and headed for the Council chambers only this time aliens who spotted me kept their distance and talked quietly amongst themselves. In many ways I was ashamed at how I had let this happen being that Humanity was supposed to represent peace and equality for all, yet I had somehow managed to get Five alien police killed and had possibly branded the Human military as jumpy, violent halfwits, nevertheless I walked into the private meeting room where the three councillors were sitting facing the Human diplomat.

Diana Sandell the Commonwealths newly appointed Human Ambassador to the Citadel, was previously Earths ambassador to Terra Nova, at 56 she had been a keen person to take on the role of negotiating Humanities interests with an alien species and so she was appointed. As I entered she looked up and frowned "You're late Captain." She said disapprovingly, "Apologies Ambassador I was checking up on my two crewmates who were injured in the commotion yesterday evening." She nodded and instantly turned her attention back to the Councillors, "Councillor Tevos, as I understand it Cheum will be replacing you as Asari councillor correct?" I had to stop myself from gawking at the women, such as blunt statement was surely highly inappropriate, I guessed that was how she landed this job.

Tevos did indeed look put out by the question, "That is correct I received word from the Asari Senate that Cheum will take over as of next week." Diana smiled, "well I'm sure we would have worked brilliantly together, but alas politics always wins." Her tone wasn't quite fitting the 'I'm sorry you're leaving' range but either Tevos didn't hear it or she ignored it, I decided to get the conversation back to the matter I had to discuss, "Councillors I have been ordered to inquire whether you would visit Humanities home world in two weeks' time, now I know the two of you will not be in office when the visit is but if the two of you could inform your replacements that would be helpful." I gestured at Tevos and Regok, they both knew that it wouldn't affect them so they simply nodded saying that it would have to fall onto their replacements to make a decision but they would inform them all the same.

Brunus sat back in his seat, "And why would I want to go to Earth? Is it after all you have sent an Ambassador to make negotiations here, what purpose is there in going to Earth?" "Well first of all Councillor it would be polite, and secondly it gives Humanity a chance to show the wider galaxy what Humanity has accomplished, I'm sure you have invited other councillors to Palaven to show it off." I said, Brunus simply twitched his mandibles, "Very well Captain, if your leaders want to meet with me I will go to Earth." When the meeting concluded Diana informed me that I was to report back to Earth and await further orders, but she would be keeping Traynor and several security staff with her, to act as her interrupter and personal guards.

Six days later I was once again sat above Earth waiting for orders, I had been doing just that for six whole days since returning from the Citadel, the Admirals had said that Shepard was being reassigned to Elysium to complete his final stage of N7 training, and they weren't sure when a replacement could be transferred. So for the foreseeable future The ISCS Arcturus were decommissioned, which meant that most of the crew had taken this opportunity to take an extended shore leave while I remained on-board. I had been so engrossed in reading my reports I didn't hear the bridge doors open, so when Kendra sat down in her old seat, it took a few moments before I realised wasn't alone, "Well good to see you are working hard for once." I looked up and smiled, "I thought it was about time I start seeing as my XO's seem to love leaving my company."

She smiled sweetly, "Well it's not that you weren't a lovely Captain and all but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to become Captain. "I wouldn't have expected any less that's why I wanted you as my XO, you always wanted to succeed and push yourself further which pushed me to be a better Captain. Still I guess you're going to be off on deployment soon, Captain." Kendra smiled, "Yep, I've been ordered to collect the Citadel Councillors." Putting down my report I sighed while standing next to her, "I'm glad, you actually get to meet the aliens at last just a shame you couldn't take the Arcturus as your first command." Kendra looked ahead though the main screen at Earth, "I sure the Admirals have good reasons for decommissioning the Arcturus, she's old and obsolete, even with all the retrofits." I thought for a moment before speaking, "I wonder why the Admirals decommissioned her before a replacement was built." I then fell silent glancing around the Bridge I had commanded for two years with Kendra at my side.

When I finished reminiscing about the fate of the Arcturus I caught sight of Kendra's face she had a was giving me a small smile, "That's why I've been sent, the reason you haven't heard anything is because the Admirals have been debating what to do with you, since you have been instrumental in opening the doorway for Humanities entry into the galaxy they have decided requested your attendance to a special meeting at HQ." I just stared at her dumbstruck, "I wonder why they went through the trouble of asking you to inform me. It's not like I did anything noteworthy and I almost caused a diplomatic situation with the Turians moments after meeting them." She laughed, "Well it got you noticed, the whole fleet is talking about you Stan, and you're becoming a legend, especially the part with the Turians. I only wish I could have been there with you." I put a hand on her shoulder and gave her the same old pep talk I had very few times before.

A couple of hours later after Kendra and I had finished chatting, I was sitting inside the Commonwealth Naval Command building in London, waiting to meet with the Lord Admiral. When his door opened Kendra stepped out and smiled happily as she saw me stand to enter, "You off?" I asked, "Yes the Lord Admiral wanted to brief me himself." I nodded at her, "Well best of luck Captain, safe travels." She returned the nod, "You too Captain." After Kendra had left I waited for the Lord Admiral to invite me inside the LA was a very particular man, who stuck to the rules like glue, "Captain Grant, glad to see you back on Earth I hear good things from your superiors." Standing at attention I saluted the LA, "Thank you Sir, just doing my duty for Humanity."

The LA gestured for me to sit and I did so, "Captain you have done Humanity proud, initiating first contact with an alien species, not everyone can claim such an important title. Which is why the other and I have agreed that in light of your recent actions, you are to be given one of the newly finished Destroyers as your ship. You will be assimilated into a new reconnaissance fleet alone with three other ships, congratulations Captain." It was a serious effort not to let my jaw drop, "Thank you Sir." The LA smiled, "Well your will effectively be leading this fleet, but you haven't been Captain long enough to be promoted so think of it as your trial, you have been a member of the navy since you were sixteen and now you're twenty five, don't worry Grant promotion is on your horizon do continue to perform as normal and this time next year you will hear about it.

"Well to the more pressing matter as your are probably aware Kendra is due to depart orbit soon to collect the Councillors, and because you have had the most contact with them your are to accompany me to the welcome ceremony and afterwards we are both to meet the resident and Emperor for drinks with the Councillors, after that you are to report to spacedock for orders, that is all." He said, so after standing and saluting is left. So for the next three days I read up on the duties and responsibilities of a commanding ships and before I had read half of it a Petty Officer knocked on my door and after saluting informed me that the ceremony would take place that afternoon, in shock that I had lost track of three days I hurried to get ready, so after washing and putting on my uniform I headed for the HQ.

Upon arriving at the ground I could see a huge amount of media and civilians cramming to enter the ground, tying get a glimpse of the aliens, although as it was an official military event they were not permitted entrance, but as it was such an important event the media had been allowed to film it. Upon entering an overly excited steward escorted me to my seat on the main stage adjacent to the LA while the Councillors were seated in the royal box with the ISC President and Emperor, "You ready for this Captain?" the LA asked under his voice as the crowd were silenced, I nodded and took a deep breath. The ceremony lasted for an hour or so mostly welcoming the Councillors to Earth but also thanking the hard work of all who had made this possible.

After the ceremony the LA led me to where the President and Emperor had taken the Councillors, after knocking on the door to the royal suite and then entering, I could see the President in deep conversation with Cheum and the Salarian Councillor, while the Emperor was seated opposite Brunus in even deeper conversation, but upon noticing the new comers they turned, "Ahh Lord Admiral glad you could join us and Captain thank you for coming, we are all extremely proud of your dedication and commitment to Humanity." The President said, the Emperor shook my hand had also congratulated me then went back to his conversation with Brunus who gave me a small nod as I acknowledged his presence.

Accepting a drink from the LA I walked over to Cheum who had walked over to an 18th century painting of Britain, "Evening Councillor Cheum, hope you are enjoying yourself so far?" She turned and smiled happily, "Of course I am it's wonderful to see your home planet, it seems that Brunus is very impressed by Human discipline and military prowess. I wonder can you tell me what is being shown in this painting." I paused taking in the painting, "Well this is painting shows the moment the Unification Act was signed, the act was drafted to end inter British Colony fighting and unite Humanity, the man in the centre is the Emperor and the others are the colony leaders." Cheum studied the painting in silence, "Humanity united so early in its history, how are you not more advanced?" She said confused, "Well I guess it's due to Humanities adopted hatred of war, we never needed to advance very fast as we managed to settle our disagreements peacefully, yet we always held onto our innate drive to discover and invent, and now we have access to the Archives we can fully advance and get to where we should have been."

I said the last part quietly so the others wouldn't hear, Cheum knew that Humanity wanted to keep the existence of the Archives hidden until such time as the Citadel had been properly assess as a non-threat and was well on its way to changing its bad habits. A little while later after I had introduced myself to the Salarian Councillor I left for the naval spaceport where I would be issued with my orders and ship. I still hadn't heard who my ten ship Captains where, so my first stop was fleet information where I asked the Officer what my ship was called and the Battle group was, "Your ship is called the ISCS Albion, the fleet is called Excalibur, the ships you will fly beside are the Incorruptible, Arcadia and Challenger, would you like the files on the Captains?" I gave him a tired glance as I read the ships history and crew roster, he immediately sent the files to my VV, I thanked him and left lightly reading the names of the Captains as I walked until I saw Kendra appear, both on the file in my head and physically in front of me, "Well isn't this a coincidence?" I said crossing my arms and smirking, "What did I do? I merely pointed my interest at being part of your fleet."

Over the next few days I had familiarised every inch of the Albion and had brought battle group Excalibur into parade formation over the Moon in preparation for the Citadels Councillors departure, their visit had been somewhat of a success. Cheum had pointed out what Humanities had done to rid itself of all the blights that the Citadel still relished in. The Salarian Councillor who seemed to be all about Salarian superiority deemed our accomplishments nothing but footnotes on the grandeur that the Salarians had achieved, and Brunus who may have been impressed by Humanities military was also less impressed when it came to matters of slavery and forced labour. It had become apparent that the Salarians and Turians were now the main problems to deal with in the Citadel as Cheum would straighten out what she could from the Asari side of things.

From what I had gathered from talks with the other Captains within Excalibur who had sources inside HQ, was that it had been rumoured Cheum would lobby for Humanity to be given full Citadel Citizenship while remaining an independent Nation, this would essentially put Humanity on the first step to gaining political power within the Citadel. The next step would be Council membership, from that point Cheum and the Human Councillor could veto any unfavourable policies the Turians or Salarians tried to implement but they could rewrite some of the existing policies to make client races gain more autonomy and freedom. But in the meantime, the main reason for the creation of Excalibur was to spy on the Batarian's. Cheum had informed the Admirals that the council had no policy on slavery and that the Council had refused to act as the Batarian's had sworn that it was pirates taking slaves and not them.

Humanity believed otherwise and wasn't about to wait for political change before moving to free innocent people. Therefore, Excalibur and several other stealth fleets would move in on Batarian territory and begin to draw up detailed maps of slave camps and also where slave transports came and went from, to build up a picture of how big and widespread the slave ring was in the wider galaxy from their Humanity would petition the council and Batarian leadership for the immediate release of all slaves, of course we didn't expect anything to change from diplomatic talks, so if they failed the stealth fleets would begin hitting camps and rotes, arresting the slavers and freeing the slaves.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: War-Games

Six weeks into the surveillance mission the Albion and the other stealth fleets ships had mapped half of Batarian space, in that time not a single enemy ship ever noticed our presence which I was satisfied with, knowing that the stealth ships actually worked. The Albion alone had highlighted three planets that had slave storage and transportation facilities on and around it, as each ship left orbit I ordered a probe to be attached to their hulls so that the mapping process would be greatly increased, therefore granting the Navy a fast and detailed view of Batarian space and where slave rings operated from. However, at the start of the seventh week I received a coded subspace transmission from the LA requesting for my immediate return to the Commonwealth, and then proceed to the Citadel to meet Diana for further instructions.

Two days later I was standing in front of her new office in the Embassy district of the Citadel, after knocking the door opened leading into a very spacious room with a fantastic view of the Citadels inner ring, "Ah Captain, take a seat." Diana said, the only issue was that there was a huge four legged Alien standing in my way, "Friendly greeting; Hello Captain, I am the Ambassador for the Elcor, an unofficial client race of the Asari. I was just discussing a matter of great importance to my people with your Ambassador, but we have concluded our meeting. Good day." As the Elcor moved around me and exited, I gave Diana a quizzical stare, "Ambassador, I assume it is need to know information?" She nodded and gestured to the seat in front of her, "All in good time Captain, I so how goes the holiday." For security reasons the surveillance mission I was a part of was being referred to as the holiday, "Very good Ambassador, it's a lovely place lots of interesting things to see and find."

I said she smiled, "Well your back now and I have news for you, as a show of good faith and our continued commitment to forge good relations with the Citadel species, and I have entered Humanity into the Citadel's annual War-games, to show off our military power and strategies. I've spoken with the Lord Admiral and he has given me approval, all I need is a representative." She finished with an eyebrow raised, I instantly caught her meaning, "And you want me to represent Humanity?" I asked, "Why of course Captain, from what I gathered from your service record you scored the highest marks in your class in every field exercise, of course you can choose not to take part, but it would mean an awful lot to the higher ups." I sat back in my seat and brought a hand to my forehead, I could still see Diana through my fingers, watching me intently, "Ok I'll do it, who is joining me I assume it would be my current crew, but they are all fresh from the Academy."

"Well in that case, we want to have the very best assisting you in these game, therefore you can choose your crew, but be warned these games are not just surface based, you will have to fight in space to." After leaving Diana office I set up and VV Document and listed everyone I wanted on my crew for the War-games my list wasn't very big as there were only a few people I had seen fight and actually trusted to keep themselves and others safe, Kendra, Piper and Shepard. When the document was sent I waited for a response as I caught a sky car back to the Albion. The response came as soon as I entered the bridge, 'Kendra: Yes, Piper: Yes, Shepard: No (Code 147).' I stopped and looked at the code, Code 147 was only used when said person was on an extremely sensitive mission or they were expecting trouble. I tried to contact Diana about it but she refused to comment, and as the code was so infrequently used and Humanity hadn't caused caught word of any impending attacks I assumed Shepard was part of the Surveillance fleet and let the issue drop.

Over the next week I waited for Diana to call, saying that the requested crew members had arrived, as it was now one day before the official opening of the games. I had occupied my time thus far by reading up on the game's history, to say it was one sided would be an understatement, in all 349 games held since the Turians had joined the Citadel, they had won every games consecutively. They employed tactics that simply involved pilling more bodies on a problem till it was solved, that was after they had used aerial bombardment and artillery to soften up their opponents. The only time they came close to losing was when a Salarian Special Forces Officer snuck behind enemy lines and rigged the Turians base generator to explode, unfortunately the Turians detected the power surge and stopped the explosion and then launched a massive assault on the Salarian position.

Of course the weapons where non-lethal but they did have a neurotoxin bullet or shell that when making contact or exploding on or with biological matter it caused the body to send no signals to the brain, creating an area of numbness that would immobilize a limb or the whole body, depending on where it hit. It also worked by contacting the soldiers armour as it was all standard bio-locked suits that knew when they were hit and could pass on the signals to the wearer's brain.

After I finished reading the list of entries into this year's games I heard a knock on my cabin door, "Come in" I said not looking up but when nobody entered I looked up and called again, with no answer I stood and went to the door, upon opening it I saw nobody there, figuring it was a Private paying a joke I turned and made my way back to my chair, but before I made it one meter from the door I heard a slight footstep, but couldn't react in time and before I knew what was happening I was pinned on the floor with Kendra's elbow pressed into my neck, "Oh come on Captain, were fighting the Turians in two days, why weren't you expecting an assault? They surly want to learn about any possible weak links." She said with a grin. Although, I only glimpsed her face as I had closed my eyes as I fell and kept them closed after she pinned me.

I stayed like that for a long time until she released her hold and started to look worried, "Stan, What's wrong? Come on now I didn't get you that hard." As she spoke I felt her weight lesson on my chest and struck, I a flash of arms and a quick push Kendra found herself pressed against the wall of my cabin with one arm twisted behind her back, not so far as to break it, but enough to make it hurt. "Come now Captain, did you think the old boy would forget about your tricks? I said as I released her, she turned and massaged her shoulder, "Well having such comfy surroundings I thought you might have gotten soft. But good to know you still got it, we pull a stunt like that the Turians won't know what hit them." I smiled, "We only need to make it look real." She smiled as she pictured the plan in her head.

We spent the next few hours talking over our strategy and tactics for each race, our first opponent was the Asari, they were skilled combatants with the special ability of Biotics which would make them a tough opponent, but they were also going up against the unknown. Therefore, they would hopefully be on the defensive for the start of the games giving my crew and I a chance to observe they movements and strategy. The big issue was that the Turians were going up against the Volus, which would be a quick battle giving them the chance to pull ahead in the points and start cementing their victory.

After another hour, I heard another knock on my cabin door, but Kendra was already up and there. When the door opened Piper stood there with three beers, "Oh Piper you know just how to reach my heart, vintage beers! You are the best." He smiled and followed her in where he took the empty seat next to me and handed me my beer, "Good to see you Captain, I thought I bring you a proper drink. After all, when the Arcturus was decommissioned and I went on shore leave I thought I would bring something special back." I clinked my beer with his and drank, "So what kept you, I guess you didn't come from Canada." He shook his head as he drank, "No I was training the crew in the hangar, most of them were from the Arcturus so they had the training fresh in the heads, especially Ashely Williams. However, the replacements needed training."

He then explained what the crew were trained in hand to hand, close quarters combat and all forms of warfare, like urban, jungle, desert and mountainous. I was pleased to hear that the crew was competent at fighting, as I was certain that the aliens would want to make an impression on Humanity, but I was confident that we would leave them all with a big surprise, the only species I was worried about were the three leading powers. Therefore after Kendra and Piper left for their own ships and bed, I went to find a quiet place to think of possible strategies for beating them. I stumbled across balcony area in the Presidium shopping district, and leant against the railing where I started out on the idyllic scenery before me.

After some time I began to get the feeling I was being watched, and sure enough when I turned to look at the far side of the balcony I saw an Asari looking at me, but when she saw me look at her, she snapped her head back towards the view but every so often she would look back at me. So, I pushed off the railing and walked over to her, she hadn't looked my way since I had moved and was now looking in every other direction, when I drew closer I recognised her, "Hello Liara, is there something I can help you with?" Upon hearing her name she turned, "Oh Captain, hello sorry I didn't see you. And no everything is fine." I smiled, "So it was another Asari who was staring at me for five minutes?" Her cheeks darkened, "Ah well, I thought you hadn't noticed, it's just this is where I normally come to think, but when I saw you standing there I couldn't work up the courage to come and apologise for my mother, the first time we met, so I just watched instead."

After looking around for a moment I spoke, "You needn't apologise, I can understand your mother's reaction, and here she is waiting to collect you, when she finds an unknown alien chatting with her daughter." Liara paused, "I guess, yes that does make sense." She looked nervous, "Do you want to sit down, you look uneasy. Maybe I could tell you about my species if you wish, we didn't get that far last time." At this her eyes brightened and she smiled widely, she led me to a bar at the far side of the shops, "Would you like a drink?" She asked, "What do they have that I can die from?" I said with a grin, "Well your Levo based aren't you, so I'll get a traditional Asari drink." As the bartender fetched our drinks I realised that it wouldn't be fair if she paid, "How much is this?" I asked, "8 citadel credits, but don't worry I will get them." As the bartender arrived Liara went to scan her credit chit, but stopped her before she could, "No sorry Liara it's not within me to ask a women to drink and then make her pay."

I then passed my hand over the payment plinth, "Transaction complete" the till said. We sat at a nearby table and I studied the deep electric blue liquid inside my bottle, "Captain, you didn't have to do that." I finished my scrutiny of the bottle and drank, "I couldn't let you pay, it would…" I couldn't finish my sentence as my brain suddenly went into overdrive, every colour went vividly bright and noise became intensified, "Captain are you alright?" I focused on her face, "Wow this drink is insane, does it always work this quick?" She laughed, "Oh you get used to the colours and sounds, this drink is full of Eezo that's why it's so blue, its common to drink when first meeting so you can focus better on the person you're talking to, gives you the ability to see them for who they are." I listened closely to Liara's voice as she explained, unlike the harsh background noise, her voice sounded soft and gentle, yet her face glowed brightly, "Well it's good that's for sure and please call me Stan." I laughed and took another sip.

It was starting to get late as the citadels lighting dimmed, but Liara and I were still deep in conversation, throughout my explanation of Human history she jumped in with new questions about our past, so far I had only reached pre-unification due to the sheer number of questions, but I had managed to ask a few in return and she was more than happy to explain about her species, we learned that both of us had deep pride for our species, but the one thing that surprised me about Liara was how mature she was, "Liara you have such a vast pool of knowledge, your must be several years if not schools above your peers." She looked at me with confusion, "How old do you think I am Stan?" I pondered her for a moment, "22, surely." She almost spat out her drink as she fought back laughter, "22, by the Goddess, am I that immature?"

Now it was my turn to be confused, "No of course not you…" She shushed me, "Wait you don't know do you, Stan Asari live for a thousand years, I am 80 years old by your calendar." I sat back, "Wow, well that explains a lot, I guess your body ages a lot slower." She looked herself and smiled, "You noticed my body then did you?" I nearly blushed but managed to keep it in check, "I didn't not look." I said, "So with millennia long life spans, when is everything, like drinking age, when can you join the military and acceptable marriage age?" She held up a finger as she finished her drink, "Asari are classed as children up until 65 when we finish first school then were adolescent or young adults, at 70 we can drink and join the military or continue education, only at 120 are we considered adults and any time after that we can acceptably marry, but many choose to marry before nowadays as we are in contact with so many shorter life spanned species, many don't want to miss out of experiencing life with non-Asari."

I let out my breath in an exaggerated sigh, "What?" she said, "Being in school for that long, no thanks." We laughed, "So what are your doing, more education, or?" I asked, "Well I've just finished school and I'm now a Combative Scientist trainee." I raised my bottle, "So a sister in arms then, how long have you been doing that?" She paused, thinking, "Must be six weeks now, I haven't been on any real operations yet but I know that this will change very soon, and then I will get to show my skills." She then looked at her wrist and gasped, "Is that the time, in need to get going, my CO will skin me if I'm not back by ten thirty." She stood, thanking me for the drinks and left, she turned and waved before she entered the elevator and I returned the gesture. Then I too returned to the Albion for immediate departure for Palaven where the games were being held, I'd left postponed departure so late, as Palaven was only a system over and we would be there in seven hours max.

I had slept the journey from the Citadel away, and was glad pleased to find that when I woke five hours later for a quick bit of PT, that we were due to enter Palaven orbit in a few minutes. After showering I dressed in the armour the Citadel War Games commission had provided, but I had cannibalised an old Commonwealth armour suit and added the decal to my new one, the Commonwealth flag was plain to see for all on my right shoulder while the Navies logo was on the left. Upon entering Palaven orbit we had received our game instructions and location of the introduction ceremony. The official time for each species to meet was at nine in the morning and by Human military clocks that meant eight thirty, but by my clock that meant eight on the dot, so at eight my crew and I arrived at the parade ground, a huge open space with a large marble coloured stand at the far end.

The Turian workers setting up the camera and speaker systems stopped and stared as the armour clad Humans entered the ground and started to line up where the ground had been outlined with the word Human. With the crew assembled I stood up front with the Commonwealths flag flying high, I then noticed the Turians had begun to line up, several of them looked our way before a shark bark from their Captain brought their eyes forward quickly. Over the next hour the spectators and of species started to fill into the parade ground and soon the stand was packed and everyone was waiting the Councillors to arrive so the Games could begin. After fifteen minutes the Crowd fell silent and then the Councillors appeared, "Welcome everyone to the 350th Annual Citadel War-Games, with a special welcome to our newest contender species, Humanity. Now for this year's game the objective is simple eliminate as many of the enemy team as possible while defending your power generator. For the Space warfare, points will be given on the strategy used and the time taken to eliminate the enemy. Now without further ado, let the games begin."

I was then ushered forward by a Turian who pointed to a hole in the floor, I guessed its purpose and slotted the flagpole into the hole and stepped back in front of my crew. The crowd erupted in cheers and then the crew and I were led off the parade ground and over towards a large transport, once inside and seated the craft took off and flew for a short distance before touching down and letting us out. When everyone was out the transport took off and left, Kendra and Piper walked over and stood next to me, "Now what?" Kendra asked, "I'm not sure but lead your squads to defensive positions, I'll take my squad and base down over there." When the transport dropped us off the Turian in the back pointed to a large room that was dimly light, "Weapons are inside as well as your generator, hurry up."

We hurried inside and quickly grabbed weapon and grenades, Piper had grabbed a sniper rifle, while Kendra had taken a shotgun. After everyone was ready I told half the unit to take up defensive locations outside the building while ten would remain near the generator as our final line of defence. The rest of us headed outside to see what arena we had been placed in.

We had been dropped off at the edge of a square with most of the buildings having fallen inwards leaving a trail of rubble across it. Then I heard a loud boom and assumed that was the starting signal, "Move out!" I shouted and set off at a quick jog to an overturned bus sized vehicle and crouched down back to the undercarriage, my five man squad were hot on my heels and began lining up. I scanned the area around the bus to try and find a better more defensible location, I then spotted a large hole in the floor that may have been a subway tunnel at one point but was now filled with debris and had been partially covered by collapsed building. I turned and pointed to the tunnel, without hesitation my squad ran into trench and took up overwatch positions. I jumped down in the middle and shoved my back against the short wall.

No sooner had we reached cover a hail of bullets rained down on our position, I saw Kendra running full speed to a covered building entrance while Piper and his squad were high tailing it to the west. A few stragglers from all three squads were gunned down before they reached cover, "Shit, these Asari don't give anything do they." Said a squad member as we bunched up into cover, "Stow that crap, were here to win, not to comment on their fighting style!" I said to the one who spoke, "Kendra lead your squad east counter to Pipers' squad and hold at this waypoint!" I said pressing my headset mic further into my ear, "Piper, hold at this way point, were going to encircle them but stay alert and keep your heads down, and maintain VV communication." I said the last bit quietly as the enemy fire stopped, "Now the rest of you defend this location."

As Pipers' and the Kendra's squads headed off. I signalled to my squad to maintain silence they troops nodded and kept quiet, Pipers training must have paid off not one was shivering or muttering in fear and they were all scanning the landscape for enemies, it had been silent now for at least a minute, and my heart was beginning to slow when I received two ready messages in my VV. I breathed in while I sent out a fifteen second countdown to both squads and then turned to my squad and flashed my hand three times, I then started the countdown virtually. At ten seconds I stood and signalled the squad, at six seconds I raised my fingers and counted down, when my last finger closed I pulled my fist down. My squad and I sprinted from cover weapons ready and opened fire, I was in the front of the charge and was waiting for the hit, which never came there was a lot of shooting going on behind the slope, and when I reach to summit I saw the Pipers squad and the Sergeants squads in a fierce gun battle with the Asari who had their backs to us, I pointed my rifle at the closet Asari and pulled the trigger, she went down quickly and quietly.

Then the others realised they were surrounded and started to turn to fight the new threat but never completed the manoeuvre Kendra and I gunned down the reaming Asari with ease. "Piper, casualties?" I shouted as I walked down the slope to the motionless bodies to retrieve weapons and ammo, "Since the initial ambush, twelve. In total twenty seven, not good so far." I sighed, this wasn't going to plan, "Kendra, Piper you're with me! The rest of you standard attacking line, any defensible positions you find, three gunners will take up that location as a fallback point, in case we need to retreat in a hurry, now let's move!" As the main unit prepared to move, Piper, Kendra and I checked our weapons before they nodded their satisfaction and I turned and ran, I had the plan to reach higher ground so as to find the enemy.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: The Batarian Crisis

After a short time of running, we came to a building that was still somewhat intact and had a fire escape ladder on the outside, I pointed to the ladder and then Piper, "Get me eyes on the enemy this is your perch, Kendra you'll be his spotter, I'm going back to the main unit but I'll cover you as you climb." I turned and crouched to cover the area as they put their weapons down and began to climb, they scurried up the ladder quickly and disappeared, I pressed my headset once again, "Oh and Piper, watch for anyone trying to take me out OK." He didn't reply but sent an acknowledged signal, pleased to know he was in his sniper mind-set I took off at speed toward the Human generator, as I neared the Human territory, Kendra sent a VV message saying they had a visual on the enemy but they had lost visual on me. I slowed and took a moment to catch my breath besides building with no side walls, "Damn it I knew I should have gone to Pipers training."

After I said it I heard a crunch of foot on gravel and turned to see an armoured figure in mid lunge from the building I had been resting besides. She tackled me to the ground and scrambled to get her pistol out, I grabbed pistol before she could get a grip and tried to point it at her chest but she pinned my arm with hers then with her other hand she tried to take it, she managed wrestled the pistol from my grasp before taking aim. I punched the side of her helmet and then pushed off the ground and rolled, she dropped the pistol again with my left hand I pinned her right and with my right I reached for the pistol. She then used her left hand which I had twisted and grabbed my wrist and pulled, hard. In pain I dropped the pistol and she released my arm, she then rolled left toward the pistol while I rolled right toward my rifle and brought it round to face her as I moved into a crouched position, she was standing her pistol pointed at my head.

We stared at each other for a moment before we acted, "Drop it!" I ordered she huffed, "Very likely Captain, now how about you lower that rifle and this won't end badly." I slowly stood keeping the Asari insights, she sounded familiar through the helmets filter, "Now why do you want to capture me I wonder, the objective is to eliminate all enemy forces and their generator, and you want get any tactile info out of me don't you know, were new. No clue what's going on?" She took half step forward but stop when I held the rifle closer to my eye, "Look Captain, I want ask you again drop your rifle now or I numb your legs and arms then drag you off no problem." I took a full step toward her and slightly lowered my rifle, "Just your try it and we'll see what happens when you trigger a Humans primal defences." She faltered slightly and I lunged, first knocking the pistol side the knocking her feet out and then pressed my rifle barrel in her visor.

"What's your game Asari? Why not just shot me in the back and get it over with?" The prone Asari slowly moved her hands towards her helmet, where she started to lift it off, after it was removed I lowered my rifle, "Liara? But…" she smiled sheepishly, "This is my big shot, I was supposed to find and capture you, so the worlds and councillors could see how Humanities military unit function without a leader, we assumed you wouldn't be this skilled in close quarters combat." I extended my hand to help her up, she looked surprised by this, "Just because Humanities does to believe in using violence to solve our problems does not mean we aren't accustomed to it, we have seen our fair share of wars and lost thousand to its destruction, the only reason I'm here is because I was ordered to. However, if I was removed from the situation I can assure you the peaceful and calm demeanour of Humanity would vanish to be replaced by a burning desire to get me back and to finish off the mission."

I then turned and left Liara standing alone in the rubble looking very taken aback and actually quite shaken up, I didn't look back at her and I had given her the right to complete her mission but she hadn't taken it. I was feeling extremely pissed off, the Council, Cheum had requested that I be taken out of the games to test Humanities abilities, it was an anger that was more a feeling of betrayal, had this all be setup to see Humanity fall at the first hurdle. If that's what they thought they would get a nasty surprise, "Kendra! Open fire on the enemy, send me the coordinates of their position imp bring the unit soon." She didn't respond probably shocked at the anger in my voice, I soon came across the unit and rallied them quickly before taking off at speed toward the coordinates that Kendra had sent me.

After 5 miles straight running, most of the unit was breathless and exhausted, some of them started to sit down, "Get on your feet! This I war, you can't just take a time out whenever you want!" They stood straight, "Good, now the enemy is probably aware we are coming so prepare for fierce shooting, however we still have the jump on them Piper and Kendra have been providing me with up-to-date info on the enemy." I then lay down and started to crawl through an open drain pipe, when I was out I called the rest through then tried to raise Piper, "Piper, status?" There was a long pause, "Piper, come in over." Then the other end came alive, "Capt…zzz…" There was lots of shouting and then several gun shots. "Shit, right our eyes in the skies are gone, last know position of the enemy was a hundred meters north of our current location, we will use this building as our attacking position, and the enemy is moving into towards the square so we should get the jump on them. Let's go."

"Generator squad, status?" I said as I waited for the main unit to enter the semi-collapsed building, "All good Captain, no trouble so far, spotted an enemy scouting party five minutes ago, but they did not detect us." I sighed, the enemy were getting close, "Very good carry on." Once every one was inside I took one last look around, the followed the unit inside, "Spread out, all floors hold for my order before firing." I headed for the middle floor and took an elevated position on a collapsed ceiling and waited. Five minutes later, the first of the enemy units came into view, "Hold" I said into the squads' comms-link, then more Asari came into view, "Hold" and finally the last Asari was in sight, "Fire!" At once the building shook with the vibrations of 78 rifles, I could see the Asari trying to scatter but they weren't far too slow, they were dropping like flies under the barrage of bullets.

The ambush was working brilliantly, as the Asari scattered it became harder to find targets, but just as the last Asari dove for cover a bright flash from the ground below burned into existence then a RPG was hurtling toward the building, "Everyone get down!" I covered my head in preparation for the explosion, I didn't wait long. Second later the building shook and then screamed, the concrete and steel began to bend and twist then ceilings began to collapse, "Get out of there!" I heard the Asari shout, but it was already too late, the building fell and buried my crew and me. I woke up what felt like moments later, to the sound of muffled screams and shouts, I tried to move but found that I couldn't move my legs, "Jesus Christ, get us out of here!" I shouted, and stared coughing on the dust filled air, as my helmets filter must have broken, I tried to cover my mouth and breathe slowly but it was difficult, but I held on as I could hear the sounds of concrete being moved from above.

I didn't know how long I was buried for, but I felt like hours and the number of individual screams had dropped. I hoped that meant they had been pulled free, but there were still a few moans and shouts from some close by, when suddenly the chunk of concrete that was resting on my legs buckled slightly crushing my legs further. I thought I had lost feeling in them but when the chunk moved a sharp pain seared up my body, I tried to shout out but the pain was making my head spin and I only manage a small grunt as the concrete continued to press down, then the part above my head lifted away and a bright artificial light flooded down on me, "We've got another one!" A voice said, "Wait where his… stop are! Back off that piece of concrete you're crushing his legs!" But whether they did or not I didn't feel it, I now had only pain radiating from my lower body and was now incapable of moving, "I you ok?" Said the voice again.

I tried to speak but again my voice failed, although I did manage a small grunt of pain again, "He's alive! Quick drop that piece and remove this one!" I was now on the point of blacking out when I felt a pair of hands hold my head on both sides while several more gently slide under my torso. As they lifted me out of the hole I tried to look around but the hands held tighter to my head, "Don't try to move, we may don't want to risk you having spinal problems." My vision was starting to blacken at the edges and I felt extremely tired, I then realised I was no longer being carried and I was lying face down on bed, then something pressed down on my shoulders and then I felt the bed start to spin.

I was now facing the roof of some vehicle, but I was still fading so when the base, now top layer of the bed retracted I didn't feel very much from my body, so when a needle was injected into my left arm and pads placed on my chest as my armour was systematically removed I lay silent. Just as I was fading in to unconsciousness a figure stood over me and shone a light in my eyes, "Captain, can your hear me?" A new voice said but I was too far gone for words, the voice became more insistent then a blaring alarm sounded as my vision blurred and I blacked out.

I regained consciousness very slowly, I was still too drowsy to form coherent thoughts or even open my eyes, so I lay on whatever I had been placed on and tried to gain control of my mind. After what felt like an eternity I managed to gain a semblance of thought and tried to work out why I was lying down and my head was a mess, then a memory flashed in to thoughts, '_Everyone get down!' _, then '_Get out of there!' _then there was blackness. I thought I had lost my thoughts again but realised I was remembering the blackness of my tomb under the rubble. Then I heard movement from my right and tried to move but found I was restricted, but a machine from above me bleeped and the unknown person moved back towards me and then the beeping stopped, "Captain can you hear me?" Said a voice which sounded familiar but in my state of sporadic thought I couldn't place it.

I could feel that I didn't have the strength to speak so I tried to open my eyes, it took a lot of effort but after a lot of eyelid fluttering I managed to open my eyes. Everything was blurred and bright, but after blinking repeatedly my vision cleared up enough for me to make out where I was. I was in a large room packed with machines of all kinds with several cupboards dotted about, "Captain, do you remember anything?" I looked to my right to see who my visitor was, it was Kendra. I tried to speak but still couldn't manage words, she could see me struggling and smiled, "Ok don't try to talk, would you like to suit up?" I gave a small slow nod and Kendra pushed a button on the side of the bed and it slowly started to push me into a sitting position, I was confused as to where I was and what had happened to my unit. Then I saw my right arm was entirely encased in plaster, Kendra saw me staring at my arm, "Ah yes, your arm was crushed as well, it was quick so you probably didn't realise that it had been damaged. But not to worry it will all be fixed soon."

I then remembered the immense pain that had burn through my body, it must have manifested as a physical memory as my heart rate spiked, my breathing hallowed and quickened causing the machines bleep violently, "Stan calm down!" Kendra said as she put her hands on my shoulders to stop me from trying to move, several doctors rushed into the room and started messing with vials connected to the machines and then the beeping stopped and I started to relax, "Jesus Stan, what was that?" I raised my left arm and pointed to the lumps under the bed sheet, Kendra followed the finger and her head slumped, "Oh! Yes, you see Captain you were trapped under a two tonne chunk of concrete for six hours and that was before the rescue team accidently drove the removal crane over the piece that was crushing your legs, this caused your legs to shatter complete and most of the muscle and tendons were beyond repair, so the LA had you flown back to Earth for rejuvenation. It the only way to fix your legs and let you walk again, otherwise you, well you get the picture."

Kendra patted my shoulder, "You're due to go in soon, but as your awake the LA would like a word, oh and Piper sends his regards." She then left the room and the LA walked in, he took the seat Kendra had been in but didn't speak he just looked off into the distance, he then sighed heavily, "Well Captain that could have been better, it was a chance to show the galaxy what we were made of. Now it wasn't your fault, so don't go blaming yourself that building you took shelter in was a brilliant tactic but the Turians hadn't mentioned that the buildings were generally unstable." I looked at his face, he looked tired and worn, "What happed to my squad?" I rasped some of the doctors turned in surprise, Sir he should be able to speak, the amount of dust the inhaled should have choked his lungs, if it wasn't for the Asari flushing his lunges out straight after he lost consciousness he would have suffocated, but they are severely bruised and inflamed."

The LA did look taken aback, "Well, well Captain you do like to break the books. Now you're going to have to stay calm, can you promise me that?" I nodded, "Captain, seventy three troops were killed, but the last thirty were severely injured, the ten troops you left at defensive positions aided in the rescue effort and the twenty seven that were shot are all fine." I didn't hear anything after that, seventy three men and women killed and in a simulated battle nonetheless, how could I have been so stupid to lead the bulk of my unit into a death trap, "How many can be relifed?" I choked out, "Well we recovered all of their memory crystals but several were cracked with varying degrees of severity, which may mean we have to use their memory stores to relife them, but they may have lost several days or even weeks of their memories.

The LA left as the doctors came in to take me to the rejuvenation chamber, but he had said that I was to report to the Albion upon waking. Several hours later I woke once more, feeling immensely better, the doctor that greeted me told me that I was now at a physical age of twenty one, with full use of all my limbs once again. I may have felt better physically but mentally I was a mess, I felt that I was being given too much leniency for my actions and I was expecting nothing less than a court-martial, yet when entering the Albion's bridge I was greeted by a fresh crew who stood and saluted. It made me sick they shouldn't be saluting a murderer, then the Yeoman handed me a tablet with several messages on it, I opened the first it was from Kendra, I read that she had returned to the games to carry on with the tournament but she hoped I was well once more, I closed the message and put the tablet aside, I didn't deserve pity.

"Captain, the Lord Admiral is contacting you." I walked into the comms room and activated the link, "Good to see you're up once more, now back to business, you are to head to Elysium to pick up Commander Shepard, then take him to Palaven." I nodded and saluted the LA closed the link and in passing through the bridge I told the XO to get us to Elysium, then I went to my cabin and make it perfectly clear I didn't want to be disturbed. Two days later I walked onto the bridge, "Helm ETA?" the bridge crew jumped, "Oh… five minutes Sir.", "Very good carry-on" I took my seat and stared at the floor, I had been keeping an eye on the news of the games and also the status of the relifing of my unit, Kendra had beaten the Elcor and Volus easily and was due to face the Salarians soon, but the news on my unit wasn't so good, the doctors had released a statement saying that twenty of the unit were totally beyond relifing as they had never created a memory store.

I now felt like a complete monster despite the LA and Kendra's messages telling me that it wasn't my fault and that I should move on. I stayed motionless for the rest of flight until the ship decelerated and I heard the XO stand and the bridge crew cry out in shock, I raised my head and instantly stood up. Elysium was burning. Entire cities were ablaze and the planet was surrounded by a ring of debris, "What the hell is happening!" I roared, it was a very well-kept secret that I was originally born on Elysium and that my parents still lived there to this day, "Captain I'm picking up several tracking probes coming from ships on the planet's surface, their Batarian. "Curse these slaver bastards, bring weapons online and wipe them off them out of existence!" The crew turned in shock, "But Sir I'm reading Human life signs on those ships, and several contacts leaving the system also with Humans aboard, "There here for slaves."

I stammered, "Contact the Admiralty, and tell them of the situation." I brought up the satellite feeds of the planet, "This debris field how much of it is ours?" It took a moment for a response, "All of it Captain." I put my hand to my head and groaned, "Land the ship." I said to which silence answered, "Everyone go put on your armour on, the Batarian's have declared war and I intend to give them one." The bridge crew stood and hurried of the bridge, while ran to my cabin and hurriedly pulled on my Commonwealth Navy Armour suit. When I re-entered the bridge the crew was already there fully armoured and ready, "Back up your memory stores now, then send then to the Emergency Memory Probe then I will send it back to Earth. When the probe was underway the ship began a stable descent into the planet's atmosphere, "Put us down outside the perimeter of enemy ships, our job is to rescues civilians and kill as many Batarian's as possible!"

When the ship touched down the crew and I stood and made our way out of the ship as quickly as possible, when everyone was out I sent the ships AI instructions to return to orbit and shot down any enemy ship entering the system or leaving it, providing no humans were on board, if there were it was to try and disable to ship. As the ship ascended back towards to the sky I instructed the senior officers to lead their squads on recon throughout the nearby towns and cities, with the assistance from the ground vehicles we had brought with us. As they departed I set off toward the capital city's military base which was ten miles away, but with my newly refreshed body I made short work of the miles and just an hour I was approaching the base. As I neared I heard a lot of noise and shouting so I ducked into the undergrowth and crawled up to the fence.

What I saw shook me with rage, piles of Human corpse were piled high while armoured figures poured liquid on then then set them alight, while thousands of women and children screamed in fear and pain as the figures wiped them towards a transport. Next to the line of civilians knelt the remaining military personnel most of which were women, around them stood more armoured figures some of which were urinating onto their captives. Then one of the figures shouted something and the others began to drag the women out of the group and towards the barracks. At this point my blood was boiling, how can aliens be so cruel and heartless, then a flash of light brushed across my face, instinctively I ducked then realised that it was a green laser, I followed it and saw a group of camouflaged soldiers.

I scurried over to them, "Good to see were still in the fight." I said, the one who flashed me, grunted, "If you call this fighting, these bastards have been picking us off slowly and methodically." I looked around at the small group, "Give me the low down." The soldier proceed to tell me how the Batarian's had arrived on force catching the fleet off guard and then began landing troops which quickly attacked the military bases and cities, within on day the Batarian's had wiped out half of the Human ground troops and half of the civilian population was rounded up and loaded on to ships in chains. Commander Shepard had rallied the remaining troops and moved them and their bases equipment to secret locations over the planet.

"Why is Shepard in charge?" I whispered, "He's the only senior officer left on the planet, plus he's N7, then I remembered that my request to have Shepard present at the games was denied by Code 147, "Shit!" I said under my breath, "You have a problem with the Commander Sir?" The soldier said accusingly, "No it's not that, but I'm afraid I can't tell you." He huffed and returned his gaze on the camp, "These bastards, isn't it enough they kill their husbands and wives without humiliating them further!" He snapped, I was thinking how we couldn't judge a species by Human morale's but no he was right this was savage behaviour, and that called for savage responses. I followed the troops back to their camp and thought. In the last few days since the war games 'accident' I had been unnaturally angry and I didn't know who I was angry at but right now that anger was focused on one thing Batarian's.

The bulk of Humanity would want to resolve this situation peacefully but I didn't want to sign a treaty with aliens who willing did this, I wanted to kill every last one of them. I knew this wasn't the Human norm nor was it mine, but after leading my men into a death-trap made by aliens and then returning home to find that yet again aliens were killing Humans or worse, I had lost all hope of regaining my former peaceful nature, so that night when the troops I had followed slept I slipped away leaving my Captain insignia and Commonwealth insignia behind, in my eyes I was no longer Stan Grant Navy Captain. I was now Zaeed Massani, the was my fathers name who was most certainly was now long dead, I would sever all ties to my old life and devote myself to one goal, destroy anyone who willing slaughtered, captured or raped Humans.

I had sent off back towards the main military base and was glad to see that the Batarian's were still there, so I slipped inside and thanks to earlier recon found that the perimeter guards would be probably inside the barracks. That was my first stop, upon opening the door I had to hold back a shout of disgust, every bed my dripping with blood, the source of which was lying on top, I could hear screams all over the base, but closer to me I heard laughter, so I headed in that direction trying my best not to look at the mangled bodies of women of all ages either side of me, I said to myself that I would stop this right now and make sure it would never happened again. The laughing was coming from the next room, I put my back to the wall and peered round, in the centre of the room a pair of teenage girls huddled together, they looked like twins but they were bruised and bleeding, around them stood five Batarian's, "Ugly Bastards" I said to myself, but the closest Batarian must have heard me as he turned and looked at the place I had been moments before.

He started to walk my way, "My first customer." I breathed as I slid my combat knife out of its sheaf. As the Batarian exited the room where the girls were he looked straight at me and was about to shout but no noise ever left his lips, with one quick swipe I had severed his head, with no hair to hold onto I grabbed his top two eyes and squished them to gain a grip, I kicked the wobbling body back into the room where it fell and slid a few feet before stopping at the boots of the other Batarian soldiers. They looked down at the headless body the to the door to see me standing there holding the head, mouth still set in half shout. The Batarian's shouted and raised their guns to which I hurled the head at the closest and pulled out my pistol and charged in knife in the other hand, the one who had the head the head thrown at was the second to die, he fell to the ground clutching his throat as blood bubbled out, the last three starting shooting wildly but I threw my knife at one and caught him in the temple.

Before the two remaining soldiers focused their aim I put a bullet in one of their heads and several more into the lasts knew and shoulder, they both dropped but one was hauling in pain, I didn't hurry to silence him nor was I worried about others hearing his screams all Human barracks were soundproof. I knelt down in front of the two girls who had scurried under one of the cots during the fight, "its ok I'm not going to hurt you I'm Human." They faces were set in terror, they just hugged each other tighter staring at the writhing Batarian, "Girls can you cover your ears please?" I said as I pulled the mattress and covers off the bed and covered the space they hid under, I then used another mattress to replace the one I removed, to create a small sound barrier and visual block. I then rounded on the Batarian, he had pulled his pistol with his good arm and put a round in my shoulder. I looked from the wound and back to him then I wrenched my knife out of the head of his comrades and stabbed it into his shoulder.

Before he let out another scream I cover his mouth with my and muffled his screams, "Shut up filth!" He didn't so I punched him in the head, "I said shut it!" He stopped screaming and starting moaning, "How many?" I asked removing my hand from his mouth, "Go to Alcuin, Human I'm not telling you anything, so I removed the knife and plunged it to the hilt in his leg, again I smothered his screams and waited for him to stop, "Tell me how many Humans you have raped, killed and enslaved!" His eyes were wide with fear, "Ok, ok we've taken 10 thousand so far, and have 3 million more ready to leave with another 15 million being prepped, as for deaths, we killed 200 million when we first arrived not including the fleet in orbit. But as far as mating with the captives, it must be in the hundreds by now." I stared at him half in shock, half in fury. I had no more question for him so I retrieved my knife and blow his head off.

After much coaxing and persuading I managed to get the girls out of the barracks with the eyes blind folded and out beyond the fence, now dressed in some clean military clothing, "Stay low and wait or me here in these bushes, here's some food and water, and take this headset just in case you need to contact me." I turned to go back in the base, "No wait, don't leave us, you're the only one in weeks who's looked after us, please you can't leave us alone for those things to find us again. I won't go through it!" She nearly screamed. She looked around 18, but I couldn't tell if she was a civilian or possibly a recruit. "I will not let anything happen to you and I guarantee that I will get you off this planet and to any family you have." She was still looking at me with fear, but her friend put a hand on her arm, "Let him go, he needs to rescue more people we can't be selfish at a time like this, more people like us are being used by those beasts, he will stop that."

I nodded and the first girl sat back down in the bushes, "Ok please hurry." She whimpered, I smiled at them, "I will be back before you know it." Once back inside I went back to the Batarian's I had killed and released my secret weapon, "NEON, hack into their communications and ship logs, send everything you find to my personal store, I need to know where the ships that already left are heading." I had saved the original copy of NEON's program into my armour suits array, so that I could maintain electronic superiority even when ground side, "Working now Captain." I flinched, "Not Captain anymore NEON, just call me Zaeed."

NEON paused which for an AI is worrying, "Why have you left the Navy?" I had to tell him, if I had any hope of rescuing these people without putting them back into more danger, "NEON do you recall my request to have Commander Shepard reassigned to my squad for the War-Games, well it was denied under Code 147, you and I both know that means either that person is expected to be attacked or they are on a top secret mission. We can see now that it was the first part, the Commonwealth knew of an impending attack on Elysium and did nothing, in fact they pulled me away from tracking these ships just so I could participate in the games, doesn't that seem odd to you?" Once more a pause, "What are you suggesting, that the Admirals knew of this attack and let it happen?" I sighed, "As much as I hate to say it, yes the Admirals allowed this to happen, search for the ships and other fleets that joined me on the stealth fleet, what happened to them." A second past, "They were all recalled to Earth after you left for the games."

"They're not waiting, they want a reason to fix the Batarian's and they don't want to wait, but why send me to the games, unless they were trying to get a reason to attack the Council as well, but why Humans are pacifists at heart now." Just then I heard movement from behind, I turned extending my foot and crouch in the process to take to stalkers legs out then I saw that the person was wearing Human armour, "Who are you, are you Human?" I shouted, "Captain it's me Shepard, were moving on the Batarian's wait where is your insignia?" I looked at myself and then back to Shepard as he removed his helmet, "Ah well you see…" I then punched Shepard hard in the head and knocked him out, "I'm sorry Shepard, and Humanity will need you to defend them, while I sort this mess out." I was now torn, aid the soldiers in rescuing the captives or go after the LA, he was the only one who had the power to hide a full invasion of a Commonwealth from the Navy.

I decided to go after the LA, he needed to be brought to justice for this, he had turned me into an animal and pushed Humanity to the brink of galactic war, but I wouldn't return to the Navy I would hunt down the Humans who had been taken and return them home. I summoned the Albion and boarded, once I had uploaded NEON into the ship he took control of all functions, "You realise what you're about to do is crazy the Lord Admiral will be protected, oh and what of the crew?" I paused, "The Navy will get them I'm sure, the liberation fleet will arrive soon to aid the valiant survivors re-take their planet, after the images and stories of what happened here the LA will rally humanity for war, but we must not let that happen we aren't strong enough to fight, we need to expose the slavery and then the galaxy will tear down the Batarian's for us. While we are safe, this attack will boost galactic support for changing the Batarian's."

I headed for Earth and docked with the space elevator above London and took a capsule down, when I arrived I went straight for Naval HQ, nobody expected me to be a deserter so I was granted access to all areas on my security level. Upon exiting an elevator in front of the LA's office I saw two guards stationed either side of the door, "I'm here to see the Lord Admiral." I said to the secretary, she pressed a button and activated a link between her desk and the LA's, "You can go in." She said and I walked in, "Good morning Admiral." I said with my back turned as I closed the door, "Grant, what are you doing here, you should be on Elysium." I walked over to his desk and slammed my hands down on it, "Don't act innocent with me, I know you deliberately withdrew the surveillance fleet and myself just so the Batarian's could slip into our closest system and pillage it, have you no honour?" I shouted.

The LA stood and glowered at me, "How dare you speak to your superior officer like that, how dare you insinuate that I withdrew the fleet to allow an enemy force entry into our territory and to ransack Elysium." I stared defiantly at the LA, "Then how did a Batarian fleet get past our orbital defences and kill millions of civilians and military personnel?" The LA walked around his desk to stand In front of me, "Stan I know your parents were living on Elysium, and I promise you that we will make the Batarian's pay for this, and we will bring everyone they have taken home." I smiled at the LA, "I never said they took anyone Admiral."

The LA's face contorted into a mask of anger, he clenched his fist and moved to strike me, but I slid my knife out of my sleeve and jammed it into the Admirals neck, as he gurgled I lowered him onto the floor, "This is a kindness Sir, you won't witness your name become tarnished and you becoming the most hated man in human history, and I can assure you every Human the Batarian's have taken will be returned those responsible for taking them will join you in hell." With that I twisted the knife and pulled, I wiped the blood on the LA's uniform and then broadcast the data I had collected on Elysium to every military base in the Commonwealth along with the data on the stealth fleet, its mission and its subsequent withdrawal days before the Batarian attack. I then sent out a message from the LA's terminal saying that Humanity would take this to the council to prove once and for all the atrocities the Batarian were committing, the Lord Admiral would have his war only Humans wouldn't be alone.


End file.
